Beyond The Barrier
by SpeakingThroughWrittenWords
Summary: Alfred and Kiku are in an exchange program and are going to swap households. Kiku is excited and terrified. Alfred is reluctant and entertained. Through letters, experiences, two strangers wonder why they will never meet.
1. Not So Similar

**(Not) So Similar**

"What do you mean you are sending me away?"

Those were, relatively speaking, the words echoed in two different households. One – loud and hurt. The other – quiet and excited. They were talking about the same thing, little would either of them know.

"It's just to another sector in the city."

Those were, relatively speaking, the words returned to the children asking the question. One: an attempt at calm that was failing. The other: an attempt at not being offended at the excitement that was failing.

"But that's _forever _away!" said Alfred in despair.

"So far away," said Kiku in awe.

"No it is not," both fifteen-year-olds were told (the latter of which heard 'aru' at the end of that sentence).

And at the beginning of the new year both were swapped like trading cards.

* * *

**People are people, no matter where they are.**

_This story is filling a request to me by DivineProjectZero: "Arthur and Yao decide to swap younger brothers (Alfred and Kiku) as a temporary arrangement (AU or canon setting, take your pick). You can take it however you want; it can be utterly hilarious or rather heartwarming, depending on how the swapped siblings get along/irritate each other, and you could have the ex-British empire family/Asian family interacting with the new sibling, if you want. I don't mind if it's just familial or somehow America/Japan (because I love them and you write them awesomely). Just have fun with it :)"_


	2. Less Than Able

**Less Than Able**

"The English Sector!" Kiku exclaimed as he packed. He had not noticed, but neither of the brothers in the room with him were too pleased (though it was only obvious on one of their faces).

"It probably isn't very fun!" Yong Soo said. "You've been there, Maddox. Tell him!"

"Crowds of people, all staring at you."

"You see?" Yong Soo crowed in triumph. "You _hate_ crowds!"

Kiku frowned, but did not turn toward them so they could not see his face. "I do not see why you are taking it up with me. I was not the one who decided this. It is school regulation."

"School regulation says you go to another sector," Yong Soo corrected. "Not which one. You could go to the Japanese Sector! You know, since that's were you came from."

"And stay where?" Maddox asked.

"We have to go to a sector we have never been before," Kiku reminded them. Maddox would not know, he had yet to do this. Yong Soo should have known though. He had gone and spent six months in the Turkish Sector a couple years ago. He did that and came back even more obnoxious than he had been previously. Apparently Uncle India had been visiting the man Yong Soo stayed with during his time there. Yao had been furious.

"Korean Sector!"

"Been there."

"Not officially, _da ze_~!"

"Please do not mention that!" Kiku nearly squeaked. Yong Soo laughed obnoxiously. "Brother Yao has already made up his mind! Even if I did not want to go you would have to convince him, not me! And quickly, as I believe the reason I am going is because Yao is taking in a friend's brother as well."

"Wait, we're getting a new brother?" Yong Soo questioned, looking surprised.

"You did not know?"

"Get out!" the Korean laughed, pushing him.

Kiku frowned, this time where they could see it. Well, that made him change his mind awfully quickly.

"I wonder if he startles at fireworks," Maddox mused.

"I see how it is!" Kiku huffed.

It certainly made him wonder what an English family would be like. What would be for breakfast? They had eggs and bread, did they not?

Needless to say, Kiku was excited. It was not doing much for his stomach however, or his nerves. Or maybe it was his nerves for his stomach. It was difficult to think about it because Kiku had difficulty leaving the train station. Arthur was very nice about it, but Kiku could not seem to calm down.

"I know it will be a little overwhelming. Matthew and Angus are very nice (after all, Alfred's not around to rile them up) and if you just want to stay up in your room at first you are welcome to. If you need anything, you ask me, all right? Yao and I did something similar when we were your age, you know. We both ended up in the Russian Sector and..."

Arthur trailed off. Kiku remembered that Yao never talked about his time in the Russian Sector.

His excitement was not all good anymore.

_Do not be silly. You are simply nervous because of the English. Language! The English language! Not the English people!_

That was a lie, of course. Kiku had always been the best in his class at English. Quietly he followed after the Englishman.

The house was so different. In Yao's home there seemed to be a place for everything. Arthur did not seem to have the same amount of organization as Kiku's brother. It looked like he tried... but there was so _much_. Kiku did not know how else to describe it. Arthur had as many books as Yao did, there was at least that. But most of these looked like they had actually been taken off the shelf recently.

Kiku did not have too much time to examine his surroundings. Two other boys (probably around his own age, but it was hard to tell) had shown up almost as soon as they had arrived.

"There you are. Boys, this is Kiku Honda. He'll be staying with us for the next six months."

"I'm Angus," one of them said, slowly. Arthur was still standing there, but Kiku did not feel all that comforted by that.

The third brother was still hiding by standing behind Angus. "Hey," he said. "I'm Matthew."

Kiku did his best to remember what he was supposed to say. "H-hello," he managed.

Angus and Matthew looked sidelong at each other. There was a hidden meaning in that, but perhaps because he was Japanese he missed what it was supposed to be. Or maybe because he was nervous he missed it. Or something.

"We can show him around the house, Arthur," Angus told his older brother.

"Are you sure? I don't–"

"Yeah, we're sure," Angus cut him off. "Com'n, Kiku. There isn't _that_ much to this place."

"I'll take your things up," Arthur informed Kiku as he took his bags. Kiku nodded, at a loss of what else to say. He remembered Arthur's first offer of just hiding up in the room. That seemed like such a good idea. Nevertheless, he made himself follow after the other two.

"What's the Chinese Sector like?" Angus asked him as they headed down the hall.

"People create many inexpensive plastic objects," Kiku explained. "It is odd."

"Really?" Matthew asked, looking confused.

"Explains why Alfred's things usually say '_Made by Chinese_'," Angus decided. "They're usually plastic. Not really cheap."

"What brought you here, Kiku?" Matthew asked quietly.

"...My name came up on rotation," Kiku admitted.

"That's what happened with Alfred," Angus told him. "Our other brother. My turn hasn't come up yet. And Matt's not on rotation, because he spends so much time here and in the French Sector."

"Not on rotation?" Kiku was confused. He had never heard of someone not being on the rotation. Did not everyone have to take an official trip to another sector because of school?

"I'm only here half the year anyway," Matthew explained.

"The rest of the time he spends with his other brother," Angus continued. "Surely all of your siblings don't live together?"

"No." But that was because they had moved out. Everyone else still stayed under Yao's roof. Everyone else he knew did the same, whether they were blood related or given in adoption like it seemed to be the case with Angus and Matthew. After all, that tended to be the case when someone was being taken care of by their brother.

"Do you live in the same type of housing?" Angus asked. "Matthew said the sectors have the same sort of buildings, so..."

Kiku nodded.

"Then I suppose you won't get lost," Angus sighed. "Not that there's much t' get lost in."

Both Angus and Matthew were rather nice and polite. Matthew was a bit quieter than Angus, but as Kiku would rather be quieter than the both of them it was not really noticeable.

Their yard was a lot more open than the one at home. Yao had things growing all over the place in their backyard. It seemed like there might have been here, but feet had trampled anything other than grass that wanted to grow in the majority of it. Angus asked if he liked playing any sports.

"Baseball," Kiku said, unable to believe as his eyes alighted on a baseball bat.

It surprised him that he actually knew more about baseball than the other two. Not that he spoke enough for Matthew or Angus to realize as much. Still, they messed around long enough before Arthur called them in to get ready for dinner.

The other two boys paled.

"Don't eat it," Matthew hissed quietly. "I'll see if he wants help. Maybe I can salvage something."

"Then run!" Angus shooed him away. After a moment, he seemed to realize Kiku's confusion and so offered him a smile. "That leaves us with setting the table!"

"Is there... something wrong?" Kiku questioned.

"Only if Matt doesn't get there in time," Angus assured him.

That did not make Kiku feel very good about sitting at the dining room table, with... _whatever_ this food was... being laid out in front of him.

Neither Matthew or Angus ate certain things. Kiku had not idea what to do, but he sampled a bit of everything anyway.

It tasted terrible.

Apparently this was considered to be because of being in a new place, because Arthur nitpicked at the other two for being picky, but left Kiku completely alone. When Arthur was not looking, Matthew smiled and shrugged at him. Kiku could not help but smile back.

The long day was over and Arthur led him to his room.

The room looked... clean. It was strange compared to the rest of the house and gave Kiku the distinct impression that someone else who did not usually stay in here was probably the one who had cleaned it. It was like it was easier for the English to clean other people's things than there own. Not that he was judging. Maddox sure liked to pretend he could not clean, after all.

His things had been placed next to the bed. Kiku went over and pulled out some of his comics.

He was going to go through these so fast. Then what would he have?

Kiku had not considered the things he was going to be lacking here. Would they have comics? Of course they would, but it would not be _manga_.

Too much thinking. Kiku sat down on the bed.

Everyone was nice, but Kiku wished he was home.

* * *

**People are people, no matter where they are.**


	3. More Than Capable

**More Than Capable**

It was not to say Alfred had ever liked the English Sector. It was so weird and Arthur made him do _English_ stuff like call soccer 'football' and band-aids 'plasters'. Still, it was the only place he had ever known of the City (except the French Sector, since Matty spent half his time with Arthur's ex). All his friends were there. His family was there. His _stuff_ was there. And now he was supposed to go to the Oriental Sector? And do what, speak English?

"We don't call it Oriental," Arthur had reminded him. "That's offensive and mashes all the Asian Sectors into one."

"But that's what _you_ told me it was!" Alfred protested.

Like always though, Arthur's word was the final one. He had to pack all of his things. At least, as many of his things as he could pack. Arthur only let him take a couple bags. Matthew and Angus lazed about as he did so, making it more difficult.

"It's not that bad," Angus tried again, but Alfred was tired of hearing that.

"It's a whole year!"

"...six months," said Matthew, but no one heard him.

"You've been to a different sector before," Angus continued. "The Spanish one, to see Uncle Spain's place."

"We were like, two," Alfred retorted, glancing over at Matthew. "Now Uncle Spain always comes over here."

Come to think about it, he had never thought of asking to go over there. If Arthur wanted him to get some culture (as school demanded of at some point in upper classes), why did he not send Alfred to the Spanish Sector?

"I heard 'em talking about this Yao," Angus continued thoughtfully. "Apparently he and Arthur are old friends."

"They're both really old, at least," Alfred agreed.

"I also heard about the kid coming over here. Name's... Kiki, I think."

Alfred paused. "Wait. What?"

"You're going there and he's coming here," Matthew said as if he was mentioning something which should have been obvious.

"But where is he _staying_?"

Both of his brothers looked at him. "In your room?" Matthew ventured a guess.

"No way," Alfred shook his head. "I'm not letting some kid come in and mess with my stuff."

"You won't be," Angus pointed out. "You won't be here."

Alfred tried to beat him up. He would have thought Angus would have let him win, since he was going away and everything. On the bright side, in the Chinese Sector he would not have to hear Arthur's lectures for another six months.

For some reason, that did not make him feel much better. Preparation for going somewhere had never taken so little time before.

Needless to say, Alfred was not happy. Not happy at all. On both sides of the train station he was _really _not happy. But he was going to be living with this man for six months (supposedly – he could not wait for Arthur to change his mind) and so he tried to be nice.

"Yo!" He waved.

"Yo?" the Chinese man repeated, blinking slowly for a few moments. Something seemed to come to mind and he chuckled. "Yo, indeed, aru. I am Yao."

"Yow. Got it." It was an odd name, but then again he was Chinese. Still, after that Alfred really did not know what to do. He did not want to seem awkward or anything. He really hoped Arthur did not tell him how much Alfred did not want to be here. How embarrassing would that be? "Well... what now?"

Yao looked at him passively. "You see your new home, that's what now."

It was still a house. There was nothing too strange about that. Yao lived in a similar district to Arthur and therefore there was not much of a difference. No, it was what was in the house that was different. There was something very familiar about it, the fact it seemed Yao was as much of a pack rat as Arthur was. But the stuff here was _interesting_ while Arthur's stuff was boring and... stuffy.

Before he could express his interest in any of this, Yao was talking. "I will show you to where you are staying. Would you like some tea?"

Alfred swallowed, bad memories already surfacing. "Uh... not right now, thanks."

Yao looked very pleased at that. Then again, he was Arthur's friend. Maybe he was not expecting manners or something. "Then I will introduce you to my brothers and sisters currently here."

"Oh. Cool."

"We're home!" Yao shouted out. He must have been expecting some sort of reaction, but without one Alfred realized he had to feel awkward. "Where are those... brothers of mine, aru?"

"Out?" Alfred suggested, but Yao seemed hesitant.

"I told them when we would be arriving..."

That in mind, Yao began to go look for them. Not wanting to stand by himself in this place, Alfred followed after. It did not take long – just entering the next room.

The loud crackle of firecrackers went off, followed by a bang and a sudden visual on one of Yao's brothers.

"Welcome!" he exclaimed.

"Yong Soo!" Yao shouted, looking frazzled. "Maddox! Get out here! You–"

"Cool!" Alfred grinned.

Both Asians looked over at him (plus a third from underneath the couch). The loud one grinned. The one under the couch seemed pleased or disappointed, somehow.

And as for Yao? He looked concerned. Not that Alfred noticed. He was busy thinking that Arthur would never have let him get away with bringing that stuff in the house, let alone set it off.

"Do you have more of those?" Alfred asked.

Yong Soo announced Alfred was his favourite brother and as Maddox arranged the other fireworks in those oddly large sleeves Alfred had the distinct impression that this was going to be _awesome_.

"What's the English Sector like?" Yong Soo asked anxiously, dragging him away from Yao despite the older man's protests.

"Full of people who stare at you," Alfred said after a second of contemplation.

"I remember that," said Maddox in a way that made Alfred wonder if he was being serious.

"Just stick be me~ _da ze_!" Yong Soo puffed his chest out importantly. "The Chinese Sector is _easy_! You know Chinese, yeah?"

"Uh... no."

"No big deal," Yong Soo shrugged. "Some speak Mandarin, some Cantonese... they don't understand each other most of the time."

"Okay." That did not make any sense. Why have so many different languages in one sector? Then again, everyone in this house seemed to know English well enough. Alfred did have his (_rather rusty_) Spanish. Not like it helped here.

"You play video games?"

Alfred stared at Yong Soo. "Dude, you speak my language."

Yong Soo nodded emphatically. "Of course! I speak lots of languages! It's fun!"

"I meant the video games. Games. Let's do it."

So they played video games. Maddox did not play with them, he simply hid behind them and made passing and distracting comments.

It was fun. More fun than Alfred thought he would be having today. At least, it was until Yao ruined it with dinner. Both he and Yong Soo were not happy about it. At least the food looked edible – though it looked like no Chinese food he had ever eaten. Alfred almost asked about it, but he was too busy trying to remember to swallow when Maddox stared at him without blinking.

"Stop that, aru. And Alfred, chew with mouth closed."

Alfred shut his mouth. _Oh, _now_ he reminds me of Arthur._

Yao shooed the others away afterwards and showed Alfred around the rest of the house. He was told that there was more family here occasionally even though they were not here now. Alfred could barely remember any of their names (though one sounded like it was "shoe") and before he knew it he was being shown to where he would be sleeping for the next six months.

"I will see you in the morning, Alfred."

"Thanks. Night."

The room was clean. Very clean. It took him a moment to realize how clean it was. It was so clean there was no bed.

It was only here, in this room, that it hit him again. He would be here for six months. Six months without Angus, without Matthew. Without Arthur. In this other kid's room. Without a bed.

Alfred opened one of the drawers to see what looked like bedding there. Though still no bed. A piece of paper fell out from the folds of the fabric and he picked it up.

_Welcome, Jones-san._

_This is a futon. Put down the foam pad first, followed by the futon. The futon should have the bottom sheet on first. The blankets and pillow are on the other side of the cupboard._

_DO NOT LET MADDOX OFFER TO AIR IT OUT._

_It is not very hard, but wait for a dry day to do so. Right outside the window will work. If you have any questions, ask Xiu. Yao will suggest bringing in a different mattress which seems to be a good idea until you learn that Yao's idea of a mattress is harder than the floor._

_I wish you luck with my siblings. I hope they do not bother you too much._

_Honda Kiku_

Alfred rubbed his thumb over the dried ink. This Honda was really open to Alfred bunking up in his room. That was surprising. Though with the weird sleeping thing, it was really for the best that he left a note. But he had not had to. If he did not want to. Alfred felt slightly bad.

_Thanks, dude._

He made the bed, lay down on it, and began to write.

* * *

**People are people, no matter where they are.**


	4. Just A Day In School

**Just A Day In School**

Kiku probably would have been able to deal with living in the English Sector if he had not had to go to school.

It was not as if Kiku had forgotten. He knew that after the initial period of staying in his temporary home he would also have to go to the school those in his temporary neighbourhood had to go to. Kiku had even tried to prepare. Maybe if he had not been trying to prepare he would have been more comfortable at this home. Maybe if he had been more comfortable at the house he could have been more comfortable with somewhere _not_ in the house.

But he did, so he was not, and there it was.

"You have my number," Arthur told him for the third time (reminding Kiku that he really thought Arthur and Yao fretted the same amount about everything). "If anything happens, or you just cannot deal with the rest of the day, you call me."

"Ah... thank you, Arthur. I can handle it."

A complete lie. Angus looked at him with a raised eyebrow, showing his own incredulity. Thankfully he did not say anything. Either Arthur did not notice it at all or he decided to spare Kiku further embarrassment by pointing out how much Kiku did not think he could handle it.

"Leave him alone, Arthur, we're goin' to be late."

Angus ushered him out and they joined Matthew out front so as to go walk to school.

"Ignore Arthur, he gets really worked up," Angus assured him. "Everyone's nice enough at school, so you don't really have to worry about anything. There's the occasional guy who likes to tease, but it's all light-hearted. They don't mean anythin' bad by it."

Kiku nodded dumbly.

Matthew had frowned at that, but stayed as quiet as Kiku.

Kiku knew he was over thinking it. He knew he was over thinking it days later, when he felt the same sense of dread on the fourth day. Angus and Matthew would talk unless Angus walked off with some other students. Then it was usually him and Matthew until they arrived in their home room.

"People _are_ being nice, eh?" Matthew's sentence was phrased like a question.

Kiku nodded.

"Really?" Matthew insisted, though rather slowly.

Obviously he was acting like there was something wrong. Kiku really needed to stop doing that. It was not like there was that much of a problem. Kiku was not the only student from the program here. There was even one in their class – a girl who had been around for three months already. "Yes, thank you. I have not had any problems, Matthew. Do not worry about me, thank you."

The other did not look at that convinced, but he let Kiku be and went out of the classroom. Kiku uncovered a paper went back to drawing. There was time before class, after all. Arthur shooed them out the door with plenty of time to spare.

Kiku never used to be so early. He always had to find his shoes in the morning... wherever Maddox had put them all.

"What's this?"

A boy took the paper he was drawing on off of his desk, causing his notes and other drawings to cascade to the floor. Kiku was mortified, but tried to handle the situation accordingly.

"I-I-I... um, please return th-those, please," he requested, standing up.

The person with his picture appeared to be the leader of his group. Kiku was barely aware of thinking that perhaps the English Sector was not _really_ that different from where he came from, but in this case that was not a good thing.

"What is this?"

"He asked you for returning them!" the Ukrainian exchange student spoke up. It was the first time he had heard her do so, but none of the boys seemed to care too much.

"Whatever, Kitty. We're just looking."

"You did not ask!" she protested. Already the girl they called "Kitty" (though Kiku was certain that was not her real name) had tears in her eyes, like how she did every time the teacher would nicely ask her something and she was certain she did not know the answer.

"He doesn't mind, do you?" another asked.

Kiku tried to swallow. "Actually... I–"

"But seriously." The leader frowned. "What the hell is this?"

If Kiku died right now, it still would have not been soon enough. "I... I..." Kiku stuttered, frozen in place. He wanted to grab his pictures, he wanted to turn and run away, but wanting to do both was not conducive to doing either.

"Leave him alone!"

Kiku did not move, not recognizing the voice. The other boys laughed. Suddenly, Kiku was looking into Matthew's back.

"Aw! Does Matty wanna say something? Be like his brother?"

"Leave him alone!" Kitty was saying in the background, but no one was paying attention to her. It was completely opposite to when they were in class and they were _always_ staring at her.

"Where's your teddy, Matty?"

"Want to know how Alfred got tough?" Matthew asked, almost not sounding like the same person. "Because _we_ fought. All the time. Wanna try me, eh?"

They were still laughing, but Kiku noticed there was something different aobut it. "You're not worth it," the leader said as the the others backed away. "Whatever, Matt."

And they were gone – one to his desk and the others passing the rest of their time out in the hallway before class. Matthew bent over and picked up Kiku's work, handing it back to him. "Sorry about that, eh. They're usually not this bad. Then again, Alfred's usually around."

Kiku took his papers, almost forgetting to be protective of it. "Matthew-san?"

"Are you okay?" the other asked, seeming a lot more subdued than he had been only moments before.

"I... I am. Thank you. I am fine." It occurred to him to ask the same. "Are you all right?"

Matthew blinked, pushing his glasses back up his nose. "Uh... yeah. I should have handled that better... not used to Alfred being gone, you know?"

It seemed to Kiku that Matthew was more quiet when around Alfred than when not, but he kept that to himself. "I suppose... our sectors are not too different."

"What was that?" Matthew asked. Kiku realized he spoke too quietly for Matthew to hear him, but decided he did not want to repeat it. So instead he shook his head. "Right. Anyway, we'll just tell Angus to make them leave you alone."

"Make...?" Kiku repeated, not understanding.

"He hangs out with some weird types," Matthew shrugged. "They like him, so if he tells 'em to back off they'll leave you alone."

"Are... are you okay, Matthew?" Kitty asked, trying to speak clearly through the cloud of her emotions she seemed to be failing to restrain.

Matthew looked over at her, appearing to have every intention of saying something, but seemed to have lost all ability of doing so as soon as he met her eyes. "...er, yeah. I'm fine, eh."

"I am sorry," she looked away. "I do little. Not help at all."

"Th-that's not true," Matthew said, shaking his head.

"You helped very much, thank you," Kiku added.

Then she smiled and Kiku was pretty sure he could get as to why they ignored her before. She was far too pretty when she smiled and it was far too easy to make her not smile and that simply was not fair. Matthew also appeared to be one of the many with a crush on her.

She _was_ pretty. And nice.

Still, not quite two-dimensional enough for Kiku. Thankfully, the teacher came back in and class started so he did not have more time to think about it.

After school Angus asked if he wanted him to deal with it and Matthew told him to just do it. It was like being in the yakuza but without the social stigma. At least, from what Kiku could tell.

"What is the Ukrainian student's name?" Kiku asked them as they stopped at the mailbox.

"Asking for her name?" Angus asked, almost a bit suspiciously.

Kiku immediately realized how it could be misconstrued and stumbled over his tongue trying to explain. "She attempted to... assist earlier when..."

"You want to thank her," Matthew clarified as he pulled out the mail. When Kiku nodded, Matthew smiled. "Katyusha."

"Everyone likes her. They just aren't sure what to do with her," Angus explained. "Like Matt, she's easy to cover up."

Matthew shoved him, then handed over a letter to Kiku. "This one's yours."

_That_ was a surprise. Kiku had assumed Yao would not send him anything. But when he looked down at the cover envelope... the handwriting could not possibly be Yao's. Or Yong Soo, or Maddox. Not even Xiu or... but it was from the Chinese Sector.

He took it inside and went to his room, taking off the cover envelope to check the name of the sender on the envelope underneath. He did not recognize the name right away and probably would not have remembered who it was from at all had Matthew not mentioned him earlier. Kiku set it down on the desk and opened it.

_Hey Kiku,_

_Thanks for the warning on Maddox. Though I totally think you should've applied that to everything that dude does. Seriously, your brother is insane. I love it._

_I felt bad that I didn't give you any pointers. I didn't think about it much until I'd got here. Everything is so different, in a way. By the way, you live in the same house as me. Weird how each sector has this kind of house, isn't it? Anyway, I should have pointed out a few things like be careful about Angus and Matt cause they can get really competitive with things and Arthur never lets anyone do anything fun, so the best thing to do is not mention you're going to do it and then say you didn't know he would have a problem with it. Totally works (most) all the time._

_I haven't met Xiu yet. Yongsoo says I'll meet her at school. Oh man, do I have to know Chinese? I really don't know any Chinese. I barely remember Spanish and Chinese is supposed to be really hard. It's awesome that you know it and English _and_ Japanese? Man, you're like a language whiz._

_Good luck with them. They're really annoying, but good people. Matty totally knows more than he lets on too, so don't let him get away with anything._

_-Alfred_

Kiku blinked.

Then smiled.

Today had not been all that bad.

* * *

**People are people, no matter where they are.**


	5. Their Mom

**Their Mom**

"..and that is why you never insult Yao by using '_your mom_' jokes."

Alfred would have paid more attention if he had not been snickering so hard. He had a lot of questions too, but that would have to wait until he had calmed down. Maddox, however, kept as calm as he usually was. How did he do it? Yong Soo had no idea. Maddox would never answer a question like that. It would forever be a mystery.

"There was something really weird about his reaction... but I don't think I know what," he finally managed, wiping the tears out of his eyes.

"I agree. I think it was the part when he... reacted."

"No, dude," Alfred shook his head, getting his shoes on. He was starting to get the idea of where his shoes always ended up in the morning. At first he was a bit frustrated by it. Then he was fine with it. It seemed Maddox did the same with everyone. "How he took it though. It was weird."

Whatever the case, it had certainly calmed his nerves a bit. Today was his first day going to school for the full time. Was he ready? Alfred was not sure. He kind of wished he could have more time to get used to things before going, but at the same time he could not wait.

It was confusing.

"You aren't really grounded for a month, are you?" Alfred asked.

Maddox gave him this _look_ (which was not really different than his usually looks), opened the window, and left.

"Sheesh! I asked Yao where my bag was and he went ballistic!" Yong Soo exclaimed and he joined Alfred to put on his own shoes. There were feathers stuck to the bottom of them, but Yong Soo did not seem to care.

"Maddox was... demonstrating something," Alfred explained. "Y'know, that Yao loses it _really_ easy with '_your mom_' jokes."

"That and turtles," Yong Soo agreed. "Uncle India gave us all the pointers of how to insult big brother. Maddox just made them better."

"Yao never says no, does he?" Alfred suddenly realized what had been bothering him. Arthur would have said it. He would have said it all the time. Yet Alfred could not remember Yao ever saying _no_.

"Not to you he doesn't," Yong Soo rolled his eyes. "I hear it all the time. But he's still treating you nice. Otherwise, no to the no."

"So... Chinese don't say no?" Alfred asked, confused.

"If there is any objection to it, that's basically what _you_ would consider a no," Yong Soo explained. "It's not hard to get. Getting to school on time... is. Let's get going!"

Alfred thought about it, figured it was not all that hard to understand, and followed after Yong Soo.

It was Mandarin here. Alfred was surprised to learn that there was more than one "Chinese". It was not really all that fair to have two Chinese languages. He was sure there would be enough issues with the different dialects and accents without there being more languages to choose from. But Yao pushed Mandarin on him so Alfred tried to get the hang of it.

He had actually made Maddox's eyebrows shoot up once or twice though. He had not even tried to say anything complicated either. It was not all that promising.

Still, Yong Soo knew English and sat next to him, so it helped a lot. Too bad the teacher also knew English, because they had already gotten in trouble for chatting during class. Yong Soo could have gotten away with saying he was helping if the teacher had not known what they were talking about. Surely the teacher could not complain with Alfred asking about how to pronounce all these names. They were so weird!

"Let's eat up top," Yong Soo said at lunchtime.

"I wish my school had an accessible rooftop," Alfred replied. He went up there to wait for Yong Soo as Yong Soo said he was going to make sure Maddox had not placed a booby trap in his bag.

There were some boys already up there. Alfred waved at them and went to the other side of the roof. It seemed they were intrigued, as a few of them came over.

"Hey," Alfred said, before trying to remember what "hey" was in Mandarin. He could not remember when he was not looking at what he wrote down to remember it with. Oh well.

"Hello," one of them said. Honestly, it was more like "herrow" or something like that, but Alfred gave them the benefit of... well, it not being their language. He was impressed enough by the fact they could read something without individual letters. _That_ made no sense.

"What's up?" he asked. "I'm so completely stoked to be here. I mean, this place is so weird. In a good way, weird. Did y'know a lot of the commercial buildings are the exact same as the ones in the English Sector?"

Maybe he was talking too fast.

"What doing here?" the same guy asked.

"What?" Alfred blinked, not getting what he was asking.

One of them said something that Alfred could not understand.

"What are you doing, _da ze_?" Yong Soo shouted over the roof from the door.

"We no like you," another boy said to Alfred.

"Dude, you don't even _know_ me," Alfred retorted. "What did you mean to say? I'll try and make sense of it."

Yong Soo walked over to his side and the others went back to speaking in what had to be Mandarin (unless it was Cantonese or something). Young Soo responded in the same. Alfred guessed. It was hard to tell. Apparently Young Soo was Korean, after all. It was hard to tell the difference except for the little Mandarin he could kind of recognize.

"Tell them they need some brushing up," Alfred said to him before looking back at the boy in front of the group. "Nice try though! I don't mind. My brother probably would."

They were already starting to walk away when Yong Soo turned toward him. "They were calling you... aw, it was awful. They're jerks. Stupid."

It took a moment to sink in. "What'd they call me?"

Yong Soo repeated it, albeit slowly and distastefully.

"But what does that mean?" Alfred pressed.

Yong Soo's translation did not make sense as an insult. His attempts at relating it fell short too. But Alfred was beginning to get the picture.

He did not like it.

"Hey! You!"

They seemed to get what _that_ meant. Two of them turned around. Alfred looked into the other teen's eyes.

"Your mom!"

Then hell broke loose. Chinese people hit just as hard as English people. Which made sense – they were all still _people_.

Six against two was not very good odds, but Alfred had a few tricks up his sleeve. Even if he was doing this without Matthew or Angus.

Then there was a single shout and everyone stopped.

The girl now on the roof was beautiful. Alfred knew that was why he had stopped, but it appeared the others stopped simply because of realizing there was someone else around to witness their fight. A bit of talk happened at this point, but Alfred followed absolutely none of it. The girl looked over at them and Yong Soo gestured back to the door with his head. So Alfred followed after him and they went back down the stairs.

With the girl.

"I'm Alfred," he introduced himself cheerfully.

"That he is~" Yong Soo agreed.

"Please do not get my brother in fights," she said.

"They started it," Yong Soo blew his hair out of his face. "You know I wouldn't do anything like that without reason, Xiu."

She said something, but once more it was in another language. Yong Soo no longer looked quite as cocky, exclaiming something in a loud voice.

"What? What?" Alfred asked him. Yong Soo glanced back over at him.

"Brother Yao's not going to be happy. But I'm not here to please him!" Nevertheless, Yong Soo looked rather put out to think that he would displease him.

"...we don't have to tell him," Alfred suggested, glancing over at the girl that Yong Soo had called Xiu. "He was just helpin' me out. Don't worry, if there's a next time I won't let him join."

"What?" Yong Soo scowled. Xiu, however, stared at him oddly before she spoke again.

"Do not get into fights," she repeated, before walking away.

"Does that mean you won't tell Yao?"

Alfred watched her go. At least, he did until Yong Soo punched him.

"Are you checking her out, _da ze_?"

"Dude!" Alfred protested, punching him back.

Before either of them knew it, the bell went off and they had to go back to class.

Nevertheless, it seemed that Xiu did not mention anything to Yao after all, as Yao introduced her to Alfred when he, Yong Soo, and Maddox got home. Xiu acted as if it was the first time. Alfred was confused at first, but did not push it after the third time Yong Soo jabbed his elbow into his back.

"Knock it off!"

"You first! Everything I do is right~"

Yao tutted, but let them be and left the room. Alfred caught Yong Soo,'s next jab and smiled at Xiu. "So, gonna be around here then?"

"I will study," she said immediately and walked off after her eldest brother.

Alfred frowned. "What's up with her?"

"She's weird?" Yong Soo suggested, leaning against him. Alfred let go of his elbow and Yong Soo crashed into his side.

"The rest of you know English," Alfred pointed out.

"'Cause we were interested," Yong Soo shrugged.

Alfred could not see why anyone would not be interested in English, but eventually decided it was like how he had never been interested in any Chinese before he had come here. Maybe it was something like that.

Pushing that aside, Alfred went to dabble at his homework before he got bored (in about fifteen minutes) and decided to open his latest letter. Maybe Kiku could tell him something more about Xiu so she would not brush him off. He was just trying to be friendly, after all.

Though after reading the letter and starting to reply, he nearly forgot to ask until he was nearly done with it.

* * *

**People are people, no matter where they are.**


	6. The OTHER SIDE

**The OTHER SIDE**

Kiku was not sure how this came to be. He never would have asked as much, Matthew got really tongue tied around her, and Kiku had thought Kat to be not as forward as it seemed she could be. So when she asked Matthew about a certain part of the sector and he accidentally suggested showing her it, Kiku found himself being roped in to save Matthew the embarrassment of being alone with her.

Or maybe it was to save himself the ire of the other boys – including Angus.

But this was how Kiku found himself going on outings with Matthew and Katyusha. Matthew was their guide and both he and Kat were confused by very different things.

Nevertheless, this was what he looked forward to most. Other than the letters Alfred wrote him. There had only been a few, but it had only been just over a month. Alfred was interesting. Like his brother... but not.

"I miss Alfred," Kat agreed. "He was nice. Maybe bit... blunt. Yes, Matthew?"

"Blunt is being really nice to him, eh."

There was no point in Kiku adding to the conversation. Communication through the written word did portray a rather different view of someone than the spoken word did.

"Where are we going today?" Kiku asked.

It was a good question, he decided. They had gone around shops, arcades, sports facilities, and many fast food restaurants. Kat had made them detour into a couple thrift shops, which Kiku had found fascinating. It was very interesting to see what people here would have at all, let alone what they would then decide to get rid of. Matthew did not seem very happy to be there, but he assured them it was only because of a few bad memories of going shopping with Arthur.

Where they were today, though... This was not like any of those things. There were no stores here. No parks. Just an alleyway that ran into a dead end of a very tall wall. It reminded Kiku of something, but he was not sure what. The wall looked strong, but still had the signs of erosion on it. Near one of the buildings there were even a few bricks missing.

"This is the border to the Cuban Sector," Matthew explained.

Katyusha looked on in awe. "Are we allowed to be here?" Kiku asked nervously. He was reminded far too much of the time Yong Soo sneaked him into the Korean Sector.

"As long as we don't look like we're trying to climb over the wall or anything," Matthew assured him. "Alfred tried it once, even got to the top."

"He didn't!" Kat gasped.

"Just to look over," Matthew continued hurriedly.

"There is a hole here," Kiku said, looking over at it without nearing. "He could have looked through there."

"From there it just looks the same on the other side, eh," Matthew shrugged.

Despite his words, Kat went over to peek. Kiku followed behind her. Not that he was interested in looking, of course. It was just interesting that there was an unofficial hole at a border. "Someone should inform the officials," Kiku suggested.

"It's not big enough for anyone to get through or anything. It's harmless. What'd be the point?"

Then, Kat screamed.

Kiku about jumped out of his skin, both at the sound and then as Kat stepped back into him. Matthew was at her side immediately. "What? What happened?"

"_Lo siento_," came a voice from the other side of the wall.

"I... I only startled," Katyusha assured Matthew as she helped Kiku back to his feet. "His eyes... so suddenly there."

"There's _never_ anyone on the other side," Matthew exclaimed quietly, moving forward. Kiku glanced over as Matthew tried to wave. "Hey!"

"_¡Hola!_" came the response along with a movement from the other side which had to be a wave in return. "_Ramon. Me llamo Ramon._"

"What was that?" Kat asked gingerly.

"I think he's introducing himself," Matthew explained. "It's really too bad Alfred's not here. His Spanish is less rusty... _Me llamo Matthew. Et..._ um, her... _llamo es_ Katyusha. From the Ukrainian Sector? And this... _llamo es_... Kiku. He's Japanese."

"H-hello!"

"Greetings."

"My name is Ramon!" the Cuban repeated, this time in English. It did not sound half bad. His Caribbean American was thick, but Kiku had heard worse English back in English class. "There is never people here!"

"I know!" Matthew replied.

For having been in the French Sector has often as here, Matthew seemed quite excited over meeting someone from another sector. Kat did too. Kiku was too busy worrying if this was a bad thing. Could they get in trouble for this? It was not like they were trying to illegally gain access to the other side or anything...

"How old are you, Ramon?" Katyusha asked, eye sparkling with the enthralment of knowing whatever it was Ramon said, she would find it fascinating.

"Seventeen! _Diecisiete_... I went to Italy three years before. How is the English Sector?"

"Nice!" Kat exclaimed happily. "Confusing at times... but very nice!"

"If you think it's confusing here you should visit the French Sector," Matthew shook his head.

"They drink a lot of tea here," Kat added.

"I would not say that it is a lot..." Kiku protested slowly.

Then there was something being poked through the hole. Kiku felt his heart stop for a moment as the dull shine of the circular silver caught his eye. Kat (not surprisingly) had tears in her eyes. And Matthew looked shocked, but picked it up. Something from the other side. From someone who was not _here_.

"Wh-what is it?" Matthew asked.

"Peso," Ramon replied secretively. "A silver peso. Used in Cuba."

There was a gasp, but this time it was not only from Kat. Kiku was unable to stop himself from stepping on Matthew's other side to look at the money in hand. "This is from Cuba?"

"I can't... find place to keep it," Ramon admitted. "My mother found it almost, last week."

"Wh-where you get s-such zing?" Kat asked, the end of her sentence becoming an accented mess.

"Found it under a floorboard."

"It's so..." Matthew trailed off.

Kiku realized what he thought. "Pretty."

"Take care of it?" Ramon asked, peering through the hole.

"Eh?" Matthew exclaimed, startled. "Wait! We shouldn't... Not that Arthur'd notice it over here, but..."

"There are official channels for this," Kiku reminded them.

"But it not official _here_," Ramon explained. "I don't know where it come from. I have it for years... it's good luck. But I don't want anyone taking it."

Kat pressed a finger against it. Instead of saying something, however, she sniffled.

"Thank you," Kiku said before his common sense could tell him otherwise.

Ramon grinned, right when there was a shout from the other side of the wall. The three of them pulled back, though Ramon did not move immediately. "_¡Papá!_" Ramon grimaced before his face vanished from the hole. "Bye, Matthew, Katyusha, and Kiku! I see you later?"

"Later!" Matthew agreed. The two boys shook on it before Ramon left the wall.

"We just met someone in a different sector who is no longer on rotation. He gave us something from outside that is unofficial." Kiku spoke the obvious, unable to believe it.

"We made to go see different sectors," Kat said, tears in her eyes. "We... learn languages, cultures, understanding. Why do we live in separate sectors? Why are we being distant?"

_That_ was a question. A question Kiku did not know the answer to, a question he had never wondered about before. "The rules are in place for a reason," he insisted.

"It would be nice to know it, eh," Matthew said, looking down at his clenched fist, coin completely hidden by the motion. "I go back in three months."

"What?" Katyusha asked, surprised.

"For my six months with my other brother in the French Sector," Matthew explained, looking as though he forgot Kiku and Kat would not have thought of that.

"I..." Kat sniffled. Kiku felt awkward, but he hoped it was not apparent on his face like it was on Matthew's. "I... I go home in two months."

_But I just got here._

After Kiku and Matthew split up from Kat and went back to the house, Kiku spent a long time looking between the coin that Matthew let him hold on to and his latest letter from Alfred. They were on rotation. Unless they got a work visa, when they each returned home they would likely never leave their sectors again. Would he never see this other boy?

_Alfred, I have only now begun to wonder. Why are we separated? Separated by ethnicity, by family, and not even well? Then why do it at all?_

As Kiku continued to write, he realized there was no answer.

* * *

**People are people, no matter where they are.**


	7. The Reason

**The Reason**

_Kiku, I just met the man in charge. Though I guess saying "man" isn't right. Not that he's a chick._

_What I mean to say is that Tony's an alien._

Alfred might have only just realized how he did tend to stereotype people and the like, but in this particular case he was not saying alien to be offensive or because the person was that different. It was just that... this person _was_ that different.

He was grey and small and did not really have anything Alfred thought was a nose and he had things that could be called eyes but were definitely not and...

He was talking around in public without wearing a single thing. No one seemed to notice. Then again, no one seemed to notice him at all. Alfred first wondered if this was a disease Chinese people could get. _That_ was really unfortunate. At least, that was what Alfred first thought.

"You're in my fucking way."

"Walk around, dude," Alfred replied. There was plenty enough room after all. He had thought of moving for a second, but realized he would not do so for anyone else and he did not want to put too much attention on whatever this guy's disease was.

Those red eyes narrowed. Then they returned to normal. "I like you, kid. Fuck my meeting, want to see a helicopter?"

It was a non-sequitur. It was also really suspicious. Alfred probably should have been thinking like that, but he was not. "You have a helicopter?"

"I have everything."

And just like that, Alfred went off to see a helicopter.

_He's just like I thought he'd be. Rich, confident, and has a knows an intelligent guy when he meets him. I never really thought much beyond that though, because there wasn't any point. I mean, who's ever heard of someone actually meeting him?_

Alfred had seen pictures of helicopters, airplanes, stuff like that. He had never seen one before. People never did. That would mean there was something going on above their heads. There were very few people who did that. Alfred only knew the name of one of them. The most important guy in all of everything. The guy in charge.

"Are you Tony?"

"Who the fuck else would have this?" Tony replied.

"It's a sweet ride," Alfred agreed with a whistle.

"And loud as fuck. It's great."

"Wow..." Alfred stared at it, imagining the noise that could come from it. If it was really noisy, could people hear it if it was passing by overhead? Alfred had never heard one before. Maybe it was too far up. "What'cha doing here, in the Chinese Sector?"

"Whatever I want," Tony replied honestly. Considering how he had mentioned a meeting earlier, Alfred decided it was true. Tony could set up meetings and then not go to them if he wanted to. Which sounded epic.

"I wish I could do that, but I have to go to school," Alfred said.

"You all look the same fucking age after a certain point," Tony admitted, staring up at him. "How old are you?"

"I'll be sixteen next week."

"Birthday so soon, huh?" Tony sounded interested. Alfred grinned.

"Yeah. Matty and I..." _Were supposed to celebrate together, for once. He was in the French Sector for our birthdays for the last few years. We were going to do this _together_. Then I came up on rotation._ "Usually celebrate our birthdays around the same time, since we're only a couple days apart."

"Matty?" Tony repeated, seeming confused. "Isn't that an English name?"

"Yeah."

_I knew he was an alien because he said "you all" like we were something else than him. I mean, there's no question about it. He doesn't even pretend to be human or anything. I tried to tell Yao about it, but he didn't get it. Tony's an actual alien._

_But I never asked, actually. Don't know why. It didn't seem important at the time, I guess. It just seemed normal._

_Now that I think about it though it doesn't really._

"You all look alike," Tony repeated, as if that excused his ignorance. "So, you're on rotation, huh? What d'you think of this sector?"

"I like it," Alfred responded as they walked away from the helicopter. Alfred sort of wished he could watch it take off. Hear how loud it got. See the propeller spin. It would have been so cool. Matthew and Angus would have been jealous. Yong Soo would have been jealous. Maddox would have... um, said something weird.

"Good, good," Tony nodded. "You know what, kid? It's fucking nice to know everyone isn't a pushover. Doesn't seem to matter which sector I go to, most people just fucking let me by without comment."

Alfred could kind of see why, but decided not to say so. "Weird. I know a lot of people who wouldn't have stood up for crap like that."

"Maybe I should check out the English Sector sometimes soon."

If there was any time to ask this question, anyone to ask this question of, it would be right now to the... _person_ in charge of everything. "Why are we all separated?"

"What?" Tony asked.

Alfred frowned. "Why are there sectors? Why can't we travel around or something? Why so many regulations?"

_So I asked him why we were all separated and why we aren't allowed to go around as we want. I asked him and you know what he said?_

"_**Why the fuck not?"**_

_Couldn't the same be said for the other way around? I don't get it. I wasn't unhappy with Arthur or anything, but why is there rotation if it doesn't matter what we know about each other in the long run?_

_Why _doesn't_ it matter in the long run?_

No matter how Alfred tried to describe it later, Yao looked at him as if he were crazy. Looked at him like that while, well, trying nicely to tell him how silly he was. It was like he was talking to Arthur (though less angry). It was rather patronizing.

"Do you believe in aliens?" Alfred asked Maddox.

"I believe in the belief in aliens."

Alfred rolled his eyes. "That's not what I was asking."

"I believe it was."

Maddox rose up on his hands and walked away. Alfred watched him go, impressed despite himself.

_Kiku, I really wish you could be here while I'm here._

* * *

**People are people, no matter where they are.**


	8. All The Else

**All The "Else"**

"Ukrainian Sector is different," Kat told him one day when she came over. Arthur had insisted on making them treats so now Angus and Matthew were both trying to save their household's reputation by not letting Kat eat anything that Arthur would make by himself. "More people drink."

"Drink...?" Kiku repeated, at a loss for what that meant.

"Alcohol," she mimed the act of imbibing it. "I not see many people do here."

"Maybe it is more private?" he suggested.

Kat shrugged. "You live with your brothers, yes?"

"Three of them, currently, and occasionally one of my sisters," he nodded. "Yao is in charge. None of the rest of us are Chinese, except Xiu. Maddox is only half Chinese. Yong Soo comes from the Korean Sector and I was involved in a mix up. Brother Yao did not want me to return and went through the trouble of making everything official so I could stay with him."

"He must love you a lot!" Kat said happily, a big smile on her face.

Kiku supposed that was true, though sometimes Yao had a weird way of showing it. An annoying way of showing it. "What about you? Surely you have missed your family."

"Yes, I have," she agreed. "But it is not as large as your family. Just mama and papa and me. They came from different sectors, but both work for same company. They met because of work visa. I was born while they were in Ukrainian Sector – they went there many times – then they settled there."

"How fascinating," Kiku mused. "Not too many people from different sectors marry."

"And I know it technically doesn't make me Ukrainian," the girl admitted, looking even shyer than usual. "I'm half Russian and half Belarusian. It not much problem! No one picks on me. I don't know if they even know sometimes."

It was odd, now that Kiku was thinking about such things. How many people lived in sectors when they were not actually the nationality of that sector? Yet they were all separated. Why was this? Why? Why was it that he would only be here for six months and then never again?

Kiku realized he did not want to leave the English Sector. Even though it was a long time from now. All of the bonds he was making here... what would become of them?

"What do your parents do?" he asked.

"Agricultural economics and culinary arts."

He was sure there was a company with those things included, but when talked about separately like that he could not think of one.

"Food just 'bout done," Angus said as he walked in with a couple of drinks. The look on his face was a bit tired, but it did not look like they had been defeated. He handed one of the cups to Kat. "Matt might need a bit of help with the other stuff. D'you mind...?"

"Not at all!"

With that, Kiku entered the kitchen with Katyusha's story on his mind. Her parents settled down in a sector neither of them were raised in. The idea seemed so _alien_.

It reminded him of how Alfred seemed insistent Tony was an alien. Kiku believed him. It was hard not to. Kiku did not think Alfred really had it in him to lie well. And on the subject of what they had been discussing...

It made sense.

"Why are you leaving him alone with her, eh?" Matthew hissed when Kiku entered the kitchen.

"...eh?" Kiku blinked owlishly.

Matthew did not respond, simply grabbing a plate and following his other brother's path out of the room. Leaving Kiku confused.

Arthur chuckled as he handed Kiku a bowl, of which Kiku took with one hand. "I swear, I would have forgotten how strange it was to be that age if not for those kids."

"...what?" Kiku asked as Arthur handed him another plate.

"Never you mind," Arthur admonished. "You don't need to get mixed up with their drama."

Kiku nodded wordlessly, deciding if that was the case to remain in the kitchen for a bit longer. Plus, Matthew did just leave. If Kiku left than Arthur would be alone in the kitchen. Kiku knew how to spell disaster. It was just different than it sounded. And it was a sentence of four English words.

Arthur in the kitchen.

"Can... I ask you something?" Kiku asked as Arthur thankfully was only cleaning up.

"Of course."

"How is it..." Kiku paused as he considered how to say it in this language. "How have you and Yao stayed in touch so long?"

Arthur stopped what he was doing, looking over at Kiku. "How have we stayed in touch?" he repeated.

"I know both you and Yao are very prompt with correspondence," Kiku continued, "but you have not seen each other since you both met in the Russian Sector."

For a few moments Arthur did not reply. Then he smiled and went back to cleaning. "It's not like we have many second chances. It's just another incentive not to lose contact with the people you care about."

Kiku knew Yao too well, perhaps. For some reason it made too much sense that Yao would have written something that would have gotten on Arthur's nerves. Or even the other way around. The personalities of both of them seemed to make that possibility likely.

Which was when he realized how it would seem to his brothers, or Matthew and Angus, about his own correspondence with Alfred. And they had never met. What if (because of never meeting) they did fall apart? And he would be writing to Angus when he left, would he not? And Matthew when he left?

And Katyusha.

"I know it hurts to think about now," Arthur said. "It's worth it though, Kiku. When you look back on all of this... I know you will see that."

At this very moment, Kiku could not see it. It seemed like making friends in another sector was for the sole purpose of making him feel miserable right now. He took the food he had been given and returned to the other room, where it seemed everything was fine. It was probably fine only because Kat was so oblivious and did not get the fact that Angus was trying to ask her out and that Matthew was trying to shut Angus up.

It was fine until Kat left and Matthew and Angus started bickering again. Kiku munched on the last of the food and watched them like they were some sort of reality show.

"It's just a bad idea!" Matthew finally exclaimed. "She goes back in less than two months!"

"I know that!" Angus retorted.

Kiku could not tear his eyes away, even though the entire situation was starting to hurt his head. It really was not his place to get involved, after all.

"Then what was all that?" Matthew said, waving his hand as if to help recall what had just been going on in the room.

"I was just talkin' to her!"

With this, Kiku would have sided with Angus. Angus usually became awkward when talking with Katyusha. Matthew was really thinking too much about it.

Then again, Matthew was right. She would be gone and there really was no point in trying to make anything more of it.

_Why am I here? I will not matter in five months._

"Matt? Let's stop."

"What?"

Kiku realized that Angus noticed he was still in the room. Both boys instantly looked sheepish. Kiku decided he had liked everything a lot better before people had started paying attention to him.

"Sorry!" he squeaked before rushing out of the room as naturally as possible. Which of course meant he would bump into Arthur as soon as he entered the next room. "Sorry!"

"Sometimes I wonder about those two," Arthur tutted as he guided Kiku into his study.

Surprisingly, Kiku found himself provided with tea. As it seemed that was the one thing that neither Matthew or Angus seemed bothered with Arthur making (then again, neither of them seemed to drink all that much tea) Kiku was able to squelch his first instinct of throwing the consumable substance far away from him.

He sipped at it, despite the knot he felt in his throat. It certainly was not like any tea he would have drunk at home, but it was not bad. Kiku took another sip. Glancing up over at Arthur, who was drinking from his own cup while sitting at his desk, Kiku's head hurt a little less.

"There was a year Yao and I lost track of each other," Arthur finally said as he set his tea down.

"...oh?"

"The best part about rotation is that you are never the only person on it." The elder man smiled. "We both made quite a few friends while over there. I write all of them, as does Yao."

"Does it bother you that you have never seen any of them again?" Kiku tried not to blurt out the question, but was unable to help himself.

"But I have," Arthur shrugged. "Maybe not as often as I'd like, but that is not the point. True friendship is not affected by time and distance. When you can start up talking to someone like you just did so yesterday, even while you are spending the entire time catching up... when you care about them whether or not they have contacted you for a while. That is true friendship."

"If it isn't?" Kiku asked desperately.

Arthur did not say anything.

Kiku stared back down into his tea cup.

"Then you have made experiences to aide you in the future. Nothing done can really be considered a waste. It's taught you something new."

Finally, Kiku felt his headache and the knot in his throat disperse.

"I spent a lot of time questioning the same thing," Arthur explained. "But even if I never heard from any of them again... I would not wish that I never met any of them. I have a lot to thank them for. Now finish your tea. It's getting late and there are some chores that need to be done before bed. Don't forget you have school tomorrow."

"Thank you."

Leaving the room with the used cups, he (once again) nearly crashed into Angus as he turned around after closing the door.

"Sorry about earlier," Angus said, no hesitation in his voice. "It's easy to forget that you aren't family."

There was nothing Kiku could say to that. He had barely been here for over a month. Did he really fit in that well?

"Funny how mature Arthur can be," Matthew commented. "And hypocritical. He doesn't follow any of that advice when around Francis."

Just because someone did not always take their own advice did not make it bad advice.

"It is okay," Kiku said to the both of them. "I do not mind. I..."

"Got overwhelmed?" Angus suggested.

"Happens to the best of us," Matthew assured him.

"And the worst," Angus added. "It's a sectoral truth."

Kiku nodded. Matthew took the cups and he joined Angus to make dinner before Arthur could escape his office.

Before bed, Kiku sat at his desk, putting all of his homework in his bag for tomorrow. In front of him lay his latest letter from Alfred and his latest attempt at a response.

_Dear Alfred..._

He could not write it down.

_Will you ever forget about me?_

Kiku wondered about all the jobs that would give someone a work visa.

* * *

**People are people, no matter where they are.**


	9. Downtime

**Downtime**

Of all the things that were never supposed to happen when someone was at someone else's house... this had to be at the top of the list. It just was not fair. This was the worst thing that could happen.

"Maddox, Yong Soo... leave him alone, aru. Honestly! He needs to rest."

Alfred had gotten _sick_. That just _sucked_.

Groggily he peered out from his blankets as Yao shooed the other two out of the room. To be fair, Yong Soo had just been trying to cheer him up. Alfred knew this. He had still felt like punching him, because he really was not in the mood for it. Yao was a life saver. Alfred had not nearly appreciated him enough until right now.

Which was really weird, because now Alfred was the most reminded of Arthur. It was only when he or Matthew or Angus got sick that Arthur became the most caring brother in existence.

He would have to ask if Yong Soo felt the same way about Yao.

That was if he remembered to ask. Alfred's head was in a fog and he could barely remember all what Yao said when he first got sick. Nor could he quite remember what it was Maddox was doing in the room after Yao had made him go to bed. He was not really that tired. Alfred might have protested more if he had not fallen asleep at some point.

What a waste of being in a different sector.

It was even more of a waste of time. He had just gotten a letter from Kiku and he needed to reply to it. He had a few questions to ask, stuff to talk about, and... stuff.

Ugh.

Alfred let his eyes slowly open when he heard things shifting next to the bed. _No offence Kiku, but I __think I'd rather be sick in my own bed next time, thanks._

"Yao...?" he asked drowsily, before coughing. He felt a bit better, sure. His fever must have gone down. Now he just felt... bleh. And tired. _Now_ he felt tired.

"You should go back to sleep."

That was not actually said in English. It was said in Mandarin. If Alfred had been feeling more himself he would have celebrated for having translated it without any hesitation or indecision. But as he was not feeling like himself he focused more on who had spoken.

"Xiu?" he corrected, blue eyes focusing as much as they could without corrective implements placed in front of him. All he could see was the long thick brown hair. She had really nice hair.

Xiu looked back at him. Even without his glasses, he could see the concern in her gaze. It was quite different than the usual... indifference. "How... are you... feeling?" she said, in struggled English.

"'m okay."

"...take."

She handed him some medication. Alfred managed to sit up to swallow them, absently taking the glass of water she handed him afterwards.

"_谢谢_."

Xiu looked at him, slightly surprised. He took a few swallows of water to prevent another cough, glancing up at her while he did so.

"Glad you don't hate me," he said slowly, after he had finished drinking.

It took her a few moments to understand him, but he could tell when she did. Xiu simply smiled at him as she stood back up. She said something he could not follow, then something he translated as: "Are you hungry?"

"A bit," he said, before he thought about making it simpler. "Yes. _是的_."

She giggled before turning and walking out the door.

_Memo to self: find out if Xiu has a twin sister who is friendly,_ Alfred thought, coughing as he stared up at the ceiling.

By the next day Alfred was feeling well enough that he thought he could get back to a normal day, but Yao seemed to have none of that.

"It's just a cough," Alfred protested.

"I will have none of that," Yao said, shooing him back into his room with _tea_. Tea. Of all things, tea?

"Do I have to drink this?" he asked Yong Soo, who had gotten away with being in Alfred's room by hiding behind the door.

"If you want to get better," Yong Soo shrugged. "Come on – you drink it and I'll sneak some games in here."

That was a fair deal. Alfred choked down the tea and Yong Soo brought in some video games for them to play.

"Does Xiu have a twin sister?"

"What kind of question is that?" Yong Soo asked, raising an eyebrow.

"She was nice to me earlier," Alfred explain.

"That's just stupid! Xiu's always nice, _da ze_~!"

Alfred frowned. "...even when threatening to tell Yao about stuff?"

"Especially then!"

For a few moments, Alfred just stared at him. This was interrupted by a cough, which no longer made his lack of reply cool. "Sometimes I wonder if you hear yourself. Then I remember English isn't your first language."

"I know exactly what I said!"

"That's stranger."

In the end, Alfred assumed that Xiu did not have a twin sister. So he saw the same girl both times. And when he saw her at dinner, she smiled at him again instead of ignoring him. Maybe he had passed a test?

He and Yong Soo watched as Maddox set all of Yao's puppets up like they were staring at the television.

"Maddox, stop that," Xiu said (more or less).

Maddox finished doing what she did not want him to do and walked away. Yao informed Yong Soo and Xiu they would have to clean up after him. Alfred did not see the sense of that, except he got the impression Yao was going to lock Maddox in his room so that he could not put them away himself. It would be interesting if Maddox actually stayed there.

"Has he always been like that?" Alfred asked. Yong Soo and Xiu looked at him strangely.

"More or less," Yong Soo replied. "It's Maddox."

"It's Maddox," Xiu repeated.

Alfred supposed that was really the only way to describe the youngest member of the household. Yong Soo and Xiu both flashed him smiles. He smiled back, eyes sticking on Xiu a little longer than they did on Yong Soo.

Why did she look so different now than she did when he first met her? How weird.

_Kiku,_

_I think your sister finally doesn't hate me. I don't know why she did in the first place. But she sure doesn't now. I don't know what she's saying half the time, but I think she's pretty nice._

Thankfully. Alfred was not sure what he would have done if she really had hated him. Being ignored was one thing, but... Then again, he was not sure what caused the change. What if she ignored him again? Was it really just a language barrier, or was she really that weird?

Or both. He could not forget that. Still, best not to say that to Kiku. He was not sure what sort of relationship he had with his sister. Kiku did not write _that_ much about her.

Alfred juggled between his letter and his make-up homework. Sure, he would prefer just to write the letter, but he did _need_ to get this stuff done. Yao got on everyone's case about their homework. More than Arthur. Then again, Arthur tended to get on their cases for other stuff. Mostly Angus for the crowd he hung out with. And Alfred for other things. Never Matthew. Then again, Matthew was only around for six months out of the year.

When Alfred got home, Matthew would not be there.

Damn. He had better make sure that Matthew had things at home sorted out before he left. Without Alfred around Matthew was going to leave a mess. Arthur and Angus never kept him in line. Well, occasionally Arthur did, but it was never the right things.

_I'd never forget you. It's a stupid question. After living in your room for six months, it would take amnesia for me to forget you. Did Angus say I forget things? Cause if he did, he's a liar. I've been writing him too. If he hasn't heard from me it's because of the post office, not me. I have _not_ forgotten him._

_And after learning your brothers can be just as obnoxious as mine? We're on the same page. Who else could understand what I've been through?_

_Speaking of which, I need a favour._

Man, he was still tired. Getting sick really did suck.

* * *

**People are people, no matter where they are.**


	10. Her Last Days

**Her Last Days**

_...and now she will be leaving. It feels like it has been worse, knowing it is going to happen. I have never had to experience anything like this before. Now I will have to do so three times in a row: Kat, Matthew, and then myself._

_I should wrap this letter up. Angus is going to take Kat and I out for ice cream. You said you liked Rocky Road? I thought I would try that one today. I will let you know how I liked it._

_-Kiku_

Katyusha was going to leave and there was nothing Kiku could do about it.

He watched how it tore Matthew and Angus up. It tore up a lot of guys in class, but Kiku was not quite certain of any of their intentions. Nor did he want to. He was almost glad that Kat was getting away from them, because he could finally understand what Angus said before. Everyone liked Kat. _Kiku_ liked Kat. And soon she would be gone.

They waited by the wall for the third day in a row – Kat's wish to see (hear) Ramon one more time before she left. Angus waited with them, wanting to meet Ramon for the first time.

Kiku wondered if he had ever waited for them. Or whether he would ever showed up at all. They had only seen him one time after all. It might have only sounded like Ramon was there often, why he thought there was never anyone waiting on the other side. Maybe they would never hear from him again. It would not surprise him.

Nevertheless, there they waiting. Angus brought out a volleyball that they bounced against the wall as they waited. It was not nearly heavy enough for the process and tended to go every which way they did not mean for, but that was fine. It made them all look just as clumsy as Katyusha was.

Kat said she did not mind that Ramon had not shown up, but it was a thinly veiled lie. Kat was not very good at lying. She was much better at crying. Or sniffling.

"Matthew?" Kiku asked after the three of them returned home.

"Yeah?" the other asked, watching as Angus dared to peak into the kitchen.

"What about the... coin?"

It took Matthew a moment to realize what it was Kiku was referring to, then pulled it out of his pocket. Kat had held on to it last week, Kiku the week before. It was not as if there was anything else to do with it. Ramon said it was his good luck charm that he could not keep. Hopefully he was okay.

Kiku had a bad feeling. Then again, it was relatively easy for him to have a bad feeling about things.

Matthew weighed it in his palm, fingers curled over it. "Are you okay with that? We won't see it again, eh."

Kiku nodded.

Matthew smiled at him. "Then let's find something to wrap this in."

They found a small box. It was not small enough to keep the coin from rattling around inside of it, so they stuffed it with tissue paper and bound it with ribbon.

In the morning the three of them ran to the train station to meet Katyusha before she left.

She was saying goodbye to the family she had been staying with – a couple Kiku had only met the two times they had gone over to meet Kat at her place. They seemed nice enough, though it was difficult to judge by Katyusha's reaction. She was crying, but that sort of what she did.

Kiku blinked several times, trying to get something out of his eyes.

She did notice them before they called attention to herself. Her eyes were shinning (the tears, Kiku reminded himself) and she broke out into a big smile. "Matthew! Angus! Kiku! You came to see me?"

That single sentence sounded the most coherent and confident she had ever sounded in English.

"Course!" Angus replied. "We wouldn't let ya go... Not without one last goodbye."

"Thank you!" she exclaimed, right before tackling Angus with a big hug. He flushed slightly, then hugged her back. She then pulled away and did the same for Matthew, then Kiku.

"I will miss you, Katyusha. I am very glad you were here when I came."

"I am glad you came when I was here, Kiku," Kat agreed. She pulled back from her hug, but left her hands on Kiku' shoulders. "I wish you came sooner. You keep in touch, yes?" She turned her head so as to look back at the other two as well.

"Yes!" Kiku nodded emphatically.

"My first letter to you is probably going to beat you home," Matthew said.

That made her chuckle and Kiku could not help but smile. Her hands dropped to her sides as she glanced back at her luggage. "It is... not real. I don't feel like I am returning home now."

"It takes a bit to sink in," Matthew nodded. "Not that I can really relate... I always get to come back here. Eventually. I gave you both my addresses, right?"

"Yes! I think."

"If not, I'll send it," Angus assured her. "Between the four of us, we'll all stay in touch."

"Good." Kat wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. They all saw that it was time for her to board, but none of them wanted to say it.

"Oh! We... have something for you," Kiku exclaimed, glancing over at Matthew. He nodded. Kiku pulled the box out of his sleeve and handed to her.

"Don't open it here," Matthew told her. "It's... the coin Ramon gave us."

Her eyes widened. "–But!"

Kiku shook his head quickly. "No. It is okay. We want you to have it. Please."

For a moment, she did not say anything. She simply stared at the box now in her hands. Then she looked up at all them, eyes clear.

"Thank you. Thank all of you for everything. Thank you."

Five minutes later she was on the train and out of sight.

Kiku only realized then that Matthew was crying. Both he and Angus pretended not to see. Then again, Kiku was trying so hard not to do the same thing.

"_True friendship is not affected by time and distance. When you can start up talking to someone like you just did so yesterday, even while you are spending the entire time catching up... when you care about them whether or not they have contacted you for a while. That is true friendship."_

Surprisingly, Kiku felt all right. And when they went back home, he went through the career books he had borrowed from the library.

The next day Ramon was at the wall. Kiku pushed a piece of paper through the wall with Katyusha's address on it.

"I guess I practice my English again," Ramon laughed.

_Katyusha,_

_I hope everything at your home is how you hoped it would be. We are taking down the posters from the hallway on Friday and I asked if I could have yours. Would you mind?_

* * *

**People are people, no matter where they are.**


	11. Now He Can See

**Now He Can See**

Alfred began to wonder what it was Tony did.

He was in charge. That much was obvious. But what did a ma– guy in charge actually do? Keep everything working, he supposed. But Alfred did not understand what went on that needed some random guy to make sure it worked smoothly.

"I met Tony here," he told Xiu one day, wondering if she understood what he was saying.

From looking at the cupboard, she turned her head toward him and stared at him quizzically before taking the dish in his hand so she could dry it. "Tony?" she repeated. "In the Chinese Sector?"

"I know!" Alfred blew his bangs out of his face. He really needed to get his hair trimmed. "What were the chances?"

"No person sees Tony."

"That's what I thought too," Alfred agreed. "Yao wouldn't believe me, either. Probably because of my description. He doesn't look like the type of guy to be in charge. Or maybe he does, because it's so unexpected. Yeah?"

Alfred paused, giving Xiu a chance to catch up. He needed to remember to keep his sentences a bit shorter and slower. It was not as if Xiu placed prime importance on learning English or anything. Not like Alfred with Mandarin. Not that it was helping any. Yao said the reason it was taking him so long was because he kept talking in English to Yong Soo and Maddox – plus the fact Yong Soo translated for him. Alfred did not see what the problem with that was.

"You cannot judge a person by their appearance," she finally said, drying another plate. "You did not finish cleaning this."

He took it back and scrubbed (carefully) at its surface again. "I know that," he replied, "but I still mean it. I'm not sure he acted like a guy who's in charge either. Like a combo of the two."

Eventually, Xiu nodded.

"Ha!" crowed Yong Soo from the doorway. "Kitchen duty."

Xiu frowned, but stayed calm. "Yao wants to talk to you," was what Alfred managed to translate her sentence to.

"Dude wants you and Maddox to clean the bathrooms," Alfred said.

Yong Soo was no longer as thrilled at their position. "Trade?" he asked, glancing back between both him and Xiu. Alfred and Xiu both shook their heads. With dread, Yong Soo left the kitchen.

"I've never actually seen Maddox _do_ any chores," he told her.

"He does."

And that was all she said on the matter. Alfred supposed there was no point in her lying about it, even if Alfred had yet to see it. He turned his attention back to washing the dishes as Xiu handed him back another one. Why did Yao not want them to put these dishes in the dishwasher again?

_Kiku,_

_Today I washed dishes. So much for a day off school._

Oh, like Kiku would want to hear about that.

_Do you like the fact Arthur only has us put dishes in the dishwasher, rather than washing them ourselves? I can't believe I miss something like that. This is taking a long time._

He had not been putting off the letter because he did not want to write to Kiku. He got Kiku's letter three days ago. He needed to respond soon. It was just that he could not think of what else to write about what was going on here when not too much seemed to have happened since his last letter. He could just respond to what Kiku said, but he did not want to seem like he was skimping out on the conversation.

Yeah, that was the only reason. Not because of the headaches or anything. He did not remember ever getting so much headaches. Was it something in the air here? Could he bring it up without seeming like a total wuss?

_Have you tried Cookies 'n' Cream? Oreos are the best. Did you know ice cream is its own food group?_

He wondered if Kiku would think that was funny. It was not like he would ever know what made the other laugh.

_I tried to tell Xiu about Tony today. She was nice and listened. I don't think she believed me, though. I decided not to mention that he was an alien, because then she totally wouldn't believe me anymore. She told me I shouldn't judge people by their appearance. I wasn't trying to judge him by what he looked like. I judged him by the fact he was not human and he talked about us like we were some sort of animals._

_He did it nicely, though. Like we were some favored pets. Which still pisses me off if I think about it too much._

He put the letter aside and went to get Yong Soo to look over his homework. He could have gone to Yao, but for some reason he preferred going to Yong Soo. Probably because he was in the same class. Of course, that meant if Yong Soo got it wrong Alfred was going to get it wrong, but it was not like Yong Soo had terrible grades or anything. Everyone in this house seemed to get really good grades.

It did not stop Maddox or Yong Soo from getting detentions though. Alfred could only just imagine what would happen if Maddox was a bit older and in the same grade.

"You okay?" Yong Soo asked.

Alfred blinked. "Yeah. Why?"

The other teen shrugged. "I don't know. You look like you're in pain or something."

"Homework?" Alfred reminded him jokingly.

"Other than that!"

"Homework is headache inducing?" Alfred pointed out.

Yong Soo blew some of his bangs out of his face. "I know!"

He said that. He looked like he believed it. Yet Alfred found himself face to face with Yao later asking about his headache.

_Traitor_, Alfred mouthed at Yong Soo, who was now pretending he had nothing to do with the conversation. Unhappily, Alfred turned his attention back to Yao. "I don't have one," he said.

Yao had the amazing ability of looking incredulous without moving much of his face. Then he asked one of the strangest things Alfred had ever heard.

"Alfred. Without moving, point out which of the books on that shelf are in English."

"What?"

Yao gave him this look and Alfred just decided to do it, no matter how strange of a request it was. He stared over and the backs of all the books and squinted, trying to pinpoint which ones Yao was referring to.

"I think you need glasses, aru."

"What?" Alfred exclaimed, more loudly than previous.

"Glasses," Yao repeated. "Frames that hold lenses you place in front of your eyes. I will set up an appointment to make sure. Arthur will need to know as well."

"But... wait!" Alfred protested. "I don't–"

"You do." He wheeled about to see Xiu standing behind him. "The dishes," she explained, miming the washing motion.

"You really do," Yong Soo agreed, suddenly paying attention. "You don't only have headaches when doing homework, _da ze_!"

Spluttering did no good. Three days later Alfred wore glasses.

_And that's why it's taken me so long to finish this up. Stupid glasses._

* * *

**People are people, no matter where they are.**


	12. Ice Cream

**Ice Cream**

It was the first letter Alfred sent that Kiku actually shared with someone. He would have shown it to Matthew, if he were still here, but in lieu of him Kiku let Angus look at it.

They laughed for a while.

_Dear Alfred,_

_You are not the only one! Shortly before he left, Matthew had an appointment with his optometrist. He was not very happy with it either, though I do believe he put up less of a fuss about it. Then again, he had Arthur right there to complain about it for him. There is little point of voicing a complaint when it has already been stated!_

_I do believe we have the same amount of chores. They are just a bit different. Your house tends to collect dust faster than my house does, have you noticed? I wonder why that is._

Putting the beginning of his letter aside into his bag as the school bell rang, Kiku joined Angus. Angus spent a bit more time with him instead of wandering off after school. Probably because Matthew was gone. Kiku would have told him that it was all right, but he enjoyed spending time with Angus and could not pretend otherwise. Plus, it made him feel more comfortable waiting at that wall if there was someone with him.

"I brought something!" Ramon laughed from the other side of the wall. He slid a covered container through the hole. Kiku took it and Angus laughed.

"You're on the same page as we, mate!" Angus slid through the container they had brought.

All three of them dug out their spoons and started on the ice cream. Kiku was glad that ice cream season would not be over by the time he left. It was just fun sharing the experience, even if it kept them from being able to say much to each other.

Sometimes. Ramon and Angus did not have as many qualms of talking with their mouths full at times.

"What flavours are these?" Kiku asked as he and Angus picked between the three different scoops.

Ramon stayed quiet for a moment, probably checking his vocabulary. "Guava, mango, and... pineapple. Yes?"

"Yep, definitely mango," Angus agreed cheerfully. "This one's my favourite."

Kiku preferred the guava. He also noticed Angus was not touching it. "There are a couple of flavours in yours. They–"

"Wait! I want to guess!" Ramon exclaimed. Angus chuckled again and Kiku could not help but laughing as well. He should have known better by now! "One has... macadamia nuts, yes? And caramel."

"Ice cream connoisseur," Angus rolled his eyes with a grin.

"And the other?" Kiku prompted.

He watched through the hole as Ramon sampled the other. "Chocolate honey nougat!" the Cuban declared.

"That's amazing," Angus said. "'ow do you do that?"

"I really like ice cream!"

"He eats a lot of ice cream," Kiku translated out loud.

"Same thing," Ramon agreed.

They finished eating their ice cream (Angus finishing the mango and Kiku polishing up with guava, with both of them sharing the pineapple) while Ramon told them what he was planning to do for Independence Day, which was coming up soon.

"Independence for what?" Angus asked, confused.

"From what?" Kiku tapped a finger against his lips.

"Don't know," Ramon replied. "But is a holiday. Who cares?"

Angus seemed to agree with that, but Kiku could only wonder. There were many holidays in the Chinese Sector, in the Japanese Sector, in the Korean Sector. What were some of them for? What were they about? Why did they celebrate something that they had no clue about? He had missed the Moon Festival in the Chinese Sector. Kiku was not sure why other than to have an excuse to eat mooncakes. Not that _some_ people needed an excuse to eat mooncakes.

He missed Yao's tea. Kiku held his spoon in his mouth and wished he could have had a little more ice cream.

"I recently started a new job," Ramon went on to say. "_Torcedor_! This is the product I purchased. I didn't make it myself, but now I make ones similar."

Kiku took the item Ramon handed over. It was a cigar. He and Angus both examined it and Kiku tried to read the words on the side. "_Totalmente... a mano_?" he asked.

"Made by hand," Ramon translated. "There is a market for handmade cigars and machine-made cigars."

"Handmade is better?" Angus asked. Through the hole, Ramon shrugged.

"Don't know. I've never smoked one before."

"Are ya going to?"

"Maybe," the Cuban responded. "I'm saving up for when I move out."

"Then maybe you should buy less ice cream," Kiku suggested.

Ramon was so offended by that Kiku was torn between laughing and apologizing profusely. Thankfully, Angus found it funny so Kiku did not feel quite as bad about his confused feelings. They talked about a few other things before he and Angus rushed back home. Since Matthew had left Arthur had become a bit more strict as to when they needed to get home. Kiku had first thought it was because now there were less people to help out with the chores.

Angus told him it was just because he was missing Alfred and Matthew. Kiku decided that made perfect sense. Just like it made perfect sense when Angus suggested they make an ice cream flavour themselves.

"Let's try an' see if he can't guess it," Angus grinned. "So nothin' simple like hokey pokey."

Kiku did not know what hokey pokey had to do with ice cream, but otherwise agreed with the idea. He agreed with it more after the other boy described a rather simple mixture of ice cream that made up _'hokey pokey'_. They needed more than vanilla and honeycomb toffee.

_I tried to make green tea mochi ice cream, thinking Ramon would like it. I had never tried to make ice cream before and I must admit it showed within my first several attempts._

"What is going on in here?" Arthur asked, surprised.

"...making ice cream?" Angus tried. Kiku wished Angus had been a bit more vague.

Arthur almost did not look like he believed it. "Well, don't forget to clean up afterwards," he reminded them before leaving them to the kitchen.

Angus grimaced. "I didn't think this would be so hard."

"Maybe we should try something simpler," Kiku agreed.

So instead of making their own ice cream, they bought a few different flavours and mixed them together. Ramon picked out all of it within five minutes.

"Leave out the strawberry next time."

He and Angus looked at each other and Kiku realized that whether someone lived in the English Sector or the Chinese Sector – being incredulous could stem from similar reasons. Yong Soo might not think Ramon's ability was that odd. Maybe Kiku should not find it that odd. He _did_ live with Maddox, after all.

_Do you have any ideas? I have a feeling Angus and I have begun an intensive project that might require some outside help. Kat suggested that we put in pickled vegetables because Angus would never be able to guess it. Angus baulked at the idea. If anything it would certainly distract Ramon from the other flavours. Still, I think whatever we come out making should be something edible for all of us._

_Pickled vegetables do not seem to be something Angus thinks is edible._

Kiku nibbled at the end of his pencil and looked at his snack. His mochi ice cream melted sadly in front of him. Maybe he should have put it in a bowl.

It did not taste terrible, so he ate it. Not really how he had wanted it to turn out though. And he was not going to have Ramon try it until it actually tasted like how Kiku knew it was supposed to taste. Maybe if Angus knew what it was supposed to be like. But Angus had never had mochi ice cream before.

_I have come to realize that I relied a bit too heavily on Matthew when it came to homework. Now I know you said to keep Arthur a bit more in the dark when it came to things (like homework), but I have started asking him anyway. It is not as bad as you led me to believe!_

Then again, there were the times it was as bad as Alfred had led Kiku to believe. But between homework and ice cream, Kiku decided that ice cream was a fair bit more difficult.

And he was _not_ going to ask Arthur to help with the ice cream.

_Maybe ask Yong Soo to bring you some mochi ice cream. Could you tell me if you like it?_

* * *

__**People are people, no matter where they are.  
**


	13. What Interests

**What Interests**

Alfred _still_ did not understand Maddox at all.

He asked Kiku about it, but Kiku's explanation of his youngest brother amounted to _just be careful_, which was not what Alfred had been asking. Neither Yong Soo, Yao, or Xiu were any more enlightening. The least enlightening of them all was Maddox.

But that was a given.

He was either the most hilarious or the most annoying person Alfred knew. It swapped from moment to moment and most moments Alfred was not sure which it was. When Maddox was not either of those things he was extraordinarily impassive. Alfred really did not spend enough time with Maddox to be able to tell. Was that an act, or could Maddox just not show emotion?

Most of all, Alfred did not know if any of it was a _good_ thing. Knowing Maddox or not knowing Maddox? Either way his shoes were likely to go missing.

"Maddox!" Alfred called up to him. It was unlikely to be anyone else's feet hanging off the edge of the roof, after all. "Wanna hang out?"

Maddox did not reply immediately. "I am already hanging off," he pointed out.

"My idea's more fun."

The younger boy agreed with that, as he ended up coming off the roof and joining Alfred in a foray through town.

Alfred's Mandarin was passable by this point. There was just so much vocabulary, but he understood a lot more now. Yao's lessons had done their job for the most part. He was probably a little more thankful to Xiu and the other kids at school. Yao seemed to forget to mention stuff like slang and sayings and the like that people in his class would use. Then again, Yao probably did not know it. Different age groups and all. Another thing that held true here like it did in the English Sector.

"Where do you like to go?" Alfred asked, trying to be friendly.

Maddox looked at him with his same-as-ever face. "Out," he said.

"We're already out."

His companion thought about that for a few moments. "I like to buy paste."

Alfred almost did not want to know, but then he realized he did. He really, really did. "For what?"

"Everything."

"Cool. Let's get some paste and do everything with it."

That seemed to agree with Maddox. So they went to the store. They bought some paste and proceeded to put it on benches. Part of Alfred reminded him this was not a very nice thing to do. Then someone actually sat there for a while and could not get up and he could not stop laughing. Then Maddox started gluing coins to the pavement.

The fun was ended when Xiu saw them on the way home and ratted them out to Yao. Alfred stood through the lecture alongside Maddox with Yong Soo giving them thumbs-ups from behind his older brother.

"Next time tell me what's going on, _yo_!" he shoved them both afterwards.

"That would assume it was a planned event," Maddox dead-panned.

"I'm not sure it would've turned out the same if we planned it," Alfred agreed.

Those were the types of things that happened with Maddox. Alfred tried to pay a bit more attention when Yao asked Maddox (in Mandarin) how school had been. Maddox was very vague. Even for talking in Mandarin and that language really seemed vague at times to Alfred. Whether it was Yao, Yong Soo, or Xiu the answers were similar.

Until one day.

"Why were you in detention for half the day today?" Yao asked.

"I wasn't!" Yong Soo protested. Yao ignored him and continued to stare at Maddox. Alfred did not know why Yao bothered. It was not like Maddox getting in trouble in school was new or anything.

Maddox, however, seemed a bit new. There was a bit of excitement in his words, even if his tone remained the same. "My class has someone from rotation now."

"He's never had one in his class," Yong Soo whispered loudly to Alfred.

"...so I welcomed him."

Yao narrowed his eyes. "What... did you do, aru?"

Maddox stared back. "Welcomed him."

"Like you did with me?" Alfred questioned, a little put out he could not have seen a similar set up in a classroom. Maddox's teacher probably went ballistic. Then again, maybe his teacher could take a bit of Maddox by now.

"Then I followed him home," Maddox added – practically an admission of taking firecrackers to school.

Yao looked like he was going to lose it, but Alfred had joined Yong Soo in asking questions about the new kid. It would be the first person on rotation to here that Alfred would meet. Because he _was_ going to meet this person. Whoever he was... he had Maddox's full attention. That made him fascinating no matter what.

"He comes from the German Sector," Maddox went on to say. "And his face is always like this."

For the first time ever, Alfred saw Maddox furrow his eyebrows. He was almost paying too much attention to that and forgot why it was Maddox was doing that. Frowning.

"He speaks formally to everyone, even when they say its okay to do otherwise. And he did not even flinch when I set off the firecrackers."

"Aiya..." Yao muttered to himself, face in hands.

"Teacher said that he has already been to the French and the Italian Sectors," Maddox continued.

"We're meeting up with you after school tomorrow," Alfred declared.

And they did.

Maddox pointed out the exchange student without pointing or talking to them. It would have been obvious alone because he did not look Chinese or any other sort of Asian. But Maddox had just been talking to the other boy and then rolled off the top of the wall.

Just like Maddox had said before, the boy did not flinch. He simply stared where Maddox had been on top of the wall for a few moments before turning away.

"How long have you been here?" Yong Soo asked (in Mandarin). Alfred realized this conversation was all going to be in Mandarin and hoped his language skills would be up to it.

"Five days," the boy replied. His Mandarin was clear and enunciated.

Suddenly Alfred did not have any worries about understanding him. He also felt like an underachiever. "Wow, it took me over a week to get to school," he said.

"Sorry about my brother." Yong Soo waved in the direction Maddox had once been in. "You impressed him by not being affected by his antics. The name is Yong Soo."

"Alfred, English Sector," Alfred piped in.

"Vash Zwingli. German Sector."

Vash was better at Mandarin than Alfred was, which ended up with Alfred fidgeting while he asked Xiu to help him out. She was surprised, but agreed.

_I just wish I could get everything I want across to people. How much of what we mean is lost in translation?_

_I suppose with everyone split up in their different sectors we are more pure in a way. We have all of these huge differences. If we went around whenever we'd like then things would start to melt together, right? Is that a bad thing? Then again, I don't understand Arthur half the time, or Angus and Matthew, and we all speak English._

Alfred was not quite sure whether Vash wanted to hang out with them at all. The poor kid probably had a really strict home life and he did not know how to let up. Apparently he lived with his sister and two uncles, but beyond talking about his sister sometimes Vash was not all that open about his home life.

"Here's Mahjong," Yong Soo explained. "Sets, runs, and so all count. There are the wind, dragon, season, flower, circle, character, and bamboo tiles."

"That is way too many suits," Alfred said, rubbing at the bridge of his nose. The glasses no longer felt like a big weight and he had less headaches, but he still bumped into them sometimes. They had gone from being noticeable all the time to almost invisible. Ugh.

"We could play cards," Vash suggested.

"You are just too simple," Maddox retorted.

Vash ignored him.

"Come on, just try it out, _da ze_!" Yong Soo exclaimed. "I promise – as long as you aren't playing with brother Yao, the game does not seem impossible."

It took Alfred a few moments to translate that last sentence, but when he had he nodded. "Okay, sure."

Yong Soo won, but that was not a surprise. Alfred was pretty sure Maddox had sat down right after Vash just to be able to pick up all of his tiles. Vash seemed like the paranoid type and Maddox picking up all of his discarded tiles did not help. Alfred liked to think he would have done better if any of the tiles he needed were not in Yong Soo's hand.

"Maddox, stop swapping out the tiles with other sets!"

"They are all dragons now."

Vash's eyebrow twitched. Alfred was pretty sure Vash did not want to hang out with them at all.

_Not really sure what to do about him. I thought meeting someone else that was on rotation at the same time as me would be fun – like how it was with you and Katyusha. I am not sure what Maddox and Yong Soo see in him. Though I guess he seems a bit saner than them. That's nice sometimes._

"You can't play if you aren't going to play fair!"

"I can too. It is not physically impossible for me to play."

"Siblings, am I right?" Alfred joked to Vash.

"My sister is an angel," the German retorted.

Alfred sighed.

_By the way – mochi ice cream is fantastic and I need to take it all home with me._

_The green tea ones are kinda odd. You sure they're tea?_

* * *

**People are people, no matter where they are.**


	14. Breaking And Entering

**Breaking And Entering**

First day.

It was in the English Sector that Kiku became part of the first large event of his life.

Not that he had never seen it before. Things like this came on the news occasionally. It was not common, but it happened. It was always a huge deal for a few days, but the excitement died off quickly.

Someone illegally tried to gain access to the English Sector.

Second day.

"I hate it when this happens," Arthur muttered, peering out through the blinds. "I had shopping to do today."

"I could do it for ya," Angus offered quickly. A little too quickly.

Arthur frowned. "I'll do it tomorrow, when more of the fuss has died down. Or you could do it tomorrow. It's best not to get involved."

Usually Kiku agreed with Arthur's isolationist type sentiments, but this time he found himself a little disappointed that he and Angus could not go check it out. They had not heard too much about the event yet – just that someone had gotten in. Kiku found himself worried. What if it had been from the Cuban Sector? What if they checked the wall? What if they closed up the hole?

"Straight to school, the both of you," Arthur said. "And straight home. Stupid man. Things like this always play havoc with the traffic, didn't he know that?"

Kiku decided not to say that whoever it was probably did not have the traffic in mind when he broke into the English Sector. Instead he said goodbye and left the house with Angus.

"Ramon likely won't be at the wall for a while," Angus sighed. The statement was obvious, but Kiku was glad he had said it. It meant Kiku did not have to say it.

"Then we have more time to figure out an ice cream flavour." There was a positive to it, at least.

Angus nodded and they kept walking. It did not take long for them to be slowed up by the amount of people walking. It had to be because of the vehicles. There were never as many vehicles out as when something like this had happened. He remembered that fact being burned into his brain when Yong Soo had dragged him into the Korean Sector. Kiku was _so glad_ he had not been caught.

"I really wish we could see where he was caught," Angus whistled.

"Everyone is doing that," Kiku reminded him.

"Arthur expecting that we'll be late gettin' home, y'know."

Kiku immediately grasped what Angus was hinting at. "What?" he asked anyway.

"We check it out after school," his friend said. "Just a peek."

It was likely a bad idea (they would be _so_ late and Arthur would know), but Kiku could not help but agree. Who knew what all would be cleared up by tomorrow. Today would be the only day they might actually be able to see anything – if there was anything to be seen. If they could get close enough. There were so many factors and most of them likely meant he and Angus would not see anything.

Nevertheless, these thoughts kept him from being able to pay attention in class. Plus the fact no one else in class wanted to pay attention – all completely absorbed in the fact of the attempt at illegal immigration. Unable to catch wind of anyone actually knowing what had happened, he pulled out Alfred's latest letter and read it between flipping pages in his textbook.

_Kiku,_

_First thing's first – your brother has a crush. And before you ask, it's Maddox. There's a new exchange student and Maddox follows him around like a puppy. It could've been cute, but it's Maddox so you just feel sorry for the other guy. Especially considering the guy._

_His name is Vash. From the German Sector. Not really sure what to do about him. I thought meeting someone else that was on rotation at the same time as me would be fun – like how it was with you and Katyusha. I am not sure what Maddox and Yong Soo see in him. Though I guess he seems a bit saner than them. That's nice sometimes._

_For the most part he's really rough. He speaks all formally most of the time, but I wouldn't say he's all that polite. Well, he is, but he isn't. It is not what he says, but how he says it. It took me a bit to get that. Maybe that is what Yong Soo and Maddox like, I don't know. People over here are much better at the unsaid stuff than I am._

_I'm getting better though. I can say a whole lot now in Mandarin. I am a master of the basics! And a bit more, of course. I wish I could do better. Vash made me realize that I'm not trying hard enough. Or something. It's so hard, but so many other people can do it so I should too._

_I just wish I could get everything I want across to people. How much of what we mean is lost in translation?_

_I suppose with everyone split up in their different sectors we are more pure in a way. We have all of these huge differences. If we went around whenever we'd like then things would start to melt together, right? Is that a bad thing? Then again, I don't understand Arthur half the time, or Angus and Matthew, and we all speak English._

_I guess there's more of a gap to bridge than languages or sectors._

Kiku quietly folded the letter and hid it under his notebook when the teacher became fed up with the class's rowdiness. He would read the rest of it after he and Angus got home. Whenever that was going to be.

"Right. I talked to a couple people 'bout it," Angus said outside the school gates.

"Everyone was talking about it."

"Apparently the guy has been here for a month," Angus continued. Kiku listened obediently. "I don't think he's from the Cuban Sector. Doesn't mean he didn't come through there."

Of course. Angus would be worried about that too.

"They haven't actually caught him yet. Apparently he ran for it. He ran really fast and got away. At least, that's the rumour now. We'll find out if it is true or not."

"Where was he hiding?"

"I think it's the attic of ol' woman Gretchen's place. At least that is where everyone is and no one has seen her."

"Gretchen?" Kiku repeated, the name not familiar.

"She's a really nice person," Angus said. "You will recognize the place. It's that huge house. She actually had her house built from her own plans. She once worked as an architect. But she's _really_ nice. I can see her helpin' out someone if he was in trouble – whether he's illegal or not."

A lump grew in Kiku's throat. It was far too obvious that Angus was trying to stay calm, but it was no longer about excitement. He was worried about this woman and what would have happened to her if she really was harbouring this man.

"She owns that park too," Angus continued. "I remember there being a huge thing of planting more trees on the other side of it when I was little. We'll get in from there."

Kiku followed Angus lead to the mansion next to the park. They had been here before and neither Matthew or Angus had mentioned it before. Then again, it seemed like he remembered Kat talking about a Gretchen once. Maybe she had met her. Which make Kiku want to find out even more what had happened.

The wildlife park behind the mansion was completely closed off to the public, as well as the rest of the block. Even without the police around there were enough people there to make it completely impossible to get any closer. Just as Kiku had expected, but disappointing nevertheless.

"Maybe we could get home before Arthur realizes we came here," Kiku suggested.

Angus shook his head. "We're going to find something."

Despite Angus' certainty of that, they did not find anything. Kiku slowly could only think about how Arthur knew where they were and that they were going to be in so much trouble. Angus was not bothered by that. They went home and got their lecture. Only afterwards did Angus tell him that Arthur was not all that mad.

"The lecture was more 'cause he had to," Angus explained. "Arthur's not really good at acting angry when he's not. He does try to act it a lot."

Kiku accepted this and went to finish reading Alfred's letter. He was either not going to finish his homework or he was going to do badly on it, so he tried not to stress out too much. Tried and failed. Kiku stayed up until one o'clock in the morning to finish it all.

Third day.

They ended up back amongst the crowd outside Gretchen's house after school. There were more people here, but less seemed to be going on. Kiku tried to stick by Angus' side, but doing so proved difficult and he was constantly bumping into people.

"_Sumima_– Eh, sorry. Sorry."

The hooded red head he bumped into almost scowled at him, but was too distracted by the house to focus on him. Kiku could not quite comprehend it. Nothing was happening. Yet all of their eyes were glued to the house as if the perpetrator was still in there.

Kiku wiped water off his arm before reaching out and grabbing Angus's arm. Angus did not propel him forward – it seemed that Kiku just kept him still with that motion. Which was when Kiku looked up at the sky. It was mostly clear. Only a few clouds littered the sky. The water on his arm had not been rain. Where had he gotten wet?

Looking back at the man he had bumped into, he noticed the man with reddish brown hair was sweating profusely. His eyes were not quite in focus, though all of his attention was on that house. He had to have a fever. Kiku tugged on Angus' arm, but did not take his eyes of the stranger.

"Eh... are you all right, sir?"

The man tore his eyes from the house and stared at him. "Fuck no," he swore before shoving his way through the crowd and away from the house.

Kiku watched him go, but very quickly lost track of him.

"What's up?" Angus asked, moving closer to his side.

"...nothing?"

Angus obviously did not believe him, but Kiku had nothing else to say. There was something about the encounter that struck him as odd, but it was not something he could describe. A sick person came out to see the scene. That meant nothing except that the man he saw was really intrigued by the whole business.

They went home earlier this time, but Arthur did not have a lecture in store for either of them. It was like Arthur had not noticed how long they were gone at all. He barely noticed that they had arrived home. Angus began to look nervous.

"Arthur?" he asked, walking over to him.

Slowly, Arthur turned to look at him. "Angus, we need to talk."

When Kiku later wrote Alfred, it was to repeat something Angus and Arthur already were to tell him.

They knew the identity of the man who had hid in Gretchen's house.

* * *

**People are people, no matter where they are.**


	15. More Than You Know

**More Than You Know**

_Alfred..._

_Alfred-san._

_Brother._

_...and that is what happened to your uncle._

He had three different letters detailing it, but Alfred still did not know what to make of it. It was not something that people actually _did_. Well, it was, but not actual people. People he knew. Not his own family.

Alfred did not know how he was related to his uncle, but had always known he was his uncle. Though Arthur had never called him uncle. Then again, Uncle was Arthur's age, so that probably would just be awkward. Alfred was not quite sure. It was not important. People he knew did not just breach the barriers. People did not do that. Alfred kept repeating that.

"Now Alfred," Yao said, voice soothing. "It... it will be all right. I am sure it was just some mistake, aru. Misplaced papers. All of it will be sorted out soon. Alfred?"

"Yeah," Alfred replied stupidly, unable to think of anything else to say.

Uncle acted stupid sometimes. But he was not, not really. He would not do something like that. He was allowed in the English Sector. He had all the papers and everything. There was no reason for him to be arrested. So it had to be misplaced papers. It would be rectified and they would laugh it off or something.

"You going to be okay?" Yong Soo asked him as they got ready for school.

He tried not to reply bitterly. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Things seem worse when you're not near the problem," Yong Soo shrugged. "You wanna talk about it?"

Alfred did not want to talk about it. He thanked Yong Soo for the offer anyway and they went to school. During class he rubbed the paper of Kiku's letter between his fingers. It was hard to concentrate on anything else.

_What were you doing, Antonio?_

It was harder to understand Mandarin than usual, but he did not bother asking Yong Soo about any of it. He really wished today had not been a school day.

The classroom emptied out and Yong Soo gave him a hug.

"Hey! What the–" Alfred tried to protest.

Yong Soo was having none of it and would not budge. "Let's mess with Vash," Yong Soo suggested.

Today was the day Xiu was going to tutor his Mandarin, but... Alfred let his shoulders slump. "Maddox'll love that suggestion," he laughed weakly.

"Then it's settled, _da ze_!" Yong Soo crowed, pulling away and grabbing both of their bags. "If anything, it's always worth watching as Vash tries to explain to Maddox why he doesn't make sense. Hopefully he will do that."

"Yeah," Alfred agreed, feeling a bit better. It was always hilarious to watch that. It did not matter how right Vash might sound – if Maddox did not care Vash had lost.

Vash always lost.

They nearly missed Vash as he was leaving the school grounds. With Maddox nowhere to be found, Alfred assumed he was in trouble. This much was confirmed by Vash.

"Maddox is currently being punished."

"What now?" Yong Soo asked. He was not annoyed, like Xiu or Yao might be. He was honestly curious. Alfred had the feeling that if Yong Soo was not such a good student he would like to spend more time getting into trouble. So he had to get something out of the lessons. Which was an odd thing to think about his friend.

"He pasted googly eyes all over the ceiling above the teacher's desk."

"I wondered what he was going to do with the rest of that," Alfred mumbled.

"Sweet! Did you get a picture, _yo_?"

Vash had no answer to that but to stay quiet. Which was to say no. On another day Alfred probably would have laughed. Today he just smirked.

For a little long, Yong Soo waited expectantly for an answer that would not come. "He'll be out soon, right?" he finally said, as if Vash had not just left him hanging.

"You tell me."

"I can tell you," said Maddox, rising up from behind Vash. "I can tell you everything."

Alfred barely heard the rest of that, because of his and Yong Soo's yelps of surprise. To Vash's credit, he actually seemed startled for a moment. But unlike them he stayed quiet, only turning about to fix Vash with his unhappy face.

"You cannot really enjoy frittering away your life like this."

"But I really do," Maddox replied.

Yong Soo announced it was time to go to the theatre and watch a movie. Alfred was not sure that he wanted to do that. On the other hand, Yong Soo was sitting between him and Maddox, so he was saved that. On the plus side, he could still hear Maddox on the other side of Yong Soo.

Maddox loved movies. He really liked the bad ones.

Surprisingly enough, Vash did not tell Maddox to be quiet as often as Alfred thought he would have.

After the movie Vash wanted to return to where he was staying. Yong Soo and Maddox thought that was a terrible idea and dragged him over to the house. "This is the other exchange student, Yao!" Yong Soo introduced Vash to him as he and Maddox dragged him through the room.

"He–"

Yao did not get a chance to finish saying hello.

Vash absolutely refused to play any video games until Maddox made it the ultimatum for him to get home at a decent hour. For not wanting to do it, Vash had to have played before because he was not half bad. Maddox kept sniping him though.

Yao was the German boy's saviour, however, telling Maddox and Yong Soo that they still had some chores. Alfred offered to walk Vash part of the way home, if just to get out of the house.

For a while, it was quiet. As Alfred expected from Vash.

"What is wrong?"

It was so odd to hear Vash asking how someone was doing. Alfred almost forgot why anyone would ask when he remembered the mood he had been in. After taking a moment to translate his words, Alfred responded.

"Problems at home."

Vash nodded and looked away. That seemed like the end of the conversation when Alfred realized something. Vash had been quieter too. Something was eating the younger boy and Alfred had not noticed. The German must have thought it was so obvious that he was looking closer at everyone else. Like Alfred.

"Is everything okay with you?" Alfred asked.

Vash did not reply immediately. "Someone I know has gotten into trouble," he admitted. The sentence "not the Maddox type of trouble" was added quickly after.

"Not too many people can get into that brand of trouble," Alfred nodded. He stared at his shoes for a moment before looking back over at the other blond. "My uncle... he broke into..."

"The English Sector?" Vash finished for him. He would have been surprised, except for the fact that people would all know about that. Antonio was infamous now. In all but name.

"Yeah."

"...Uncle Spain?"

Now _that_ surprised him. Alfred stared incredulously at Vash for a few moments before he could think of what to say in Mandarin. "How do you know that?"

"_My_ uncle Spain broke into the English Sector," Vash declared.

"He's _my_ uncle! How can he be your uncle?"

Vash's eyes narrowed somewhat. He must have considered that to be a stupid question. "He is my uncle's best friend. He would come over the house often."

The city was smaller than Alfred could ever have imagined. "Your uncle... is Gilbert?" Alfred clarified. "Uncle Spain'd tell us all about their stupid exploits and stuff."

The corner of Vash's mouth turned upward. "That would be him."

Alfred's mind was blown. The only part of the situation he could focus on was that Vash obviously could not have learnt strict discipline from Gilbert. At least not from the Gilbert in Antonio's stories. Had to be the other uncle. Or maybe his parents. What happened to Vash's parents?

Or maybe he never knew his parents. Like Alfred and Matthew.

"I heard you talk of an Arthur, but did not think too much about it," Vash continued. "Antonio said Arthur was one of the common names in the English Sector."

"Eh, I guess," Alfred shrugged. "There are a few of 'em. Did your uncle really blow up the garage?"

The expression on Vash's face was one Alfred had not seen before. A struggle between amusement and trying not to be amused.

"He has taught me a great deal," he finally said.

Alfred grinned. _Maddox has no idea._ And that was okay.

There was a lot more to Vash than Alfred originally thought.

* * *

**People are people, no matter where they are.**


	16. When Nothing Can Be Done

**When Nothing Can Be Done**

Suddenly, Kiku wished he was home again.

If anything, Angus now acted awkward around him. Which was no balance for Arthur's sudden distance. He spent a lot of time out of the house. Angus said he was trying to get in contact with anyone about Antonio. Kiku wondered if that was even possible. With how quickly these things were shut up...

Angus was insistent. Antonio had papers. There was no reason Antonio had illegally come here. It would be legal.

Kiku could not do anything but agree quietly and wonder what was going to happen next.

Then Matthew came back. Kiku nearly missed it by the rush and overlapping of English that occurred when the front door opened.

"It's not true, is it? Does Alfred know? He wouldn't be arrested, he can't have been!"

"Arthur! It can't be–"

"Francis! What are you doing here? Matthew? You're back!"

Arthur was not very good at pretending he did not want either Matthew or this other man here. He ushered them both in and Kiku found himself frozen in the doorway – wanting to greet Matthew and wanting to retreat to Alfred's room. He did not belong here for this.

Kiku had almost turned around when he saw Matthew's eyes (behind those glasses that almost made him look invisible) lock on him. Kiku waved.

Matthew waved back.

It was only after they had discussed the situation and Arthur and Francis were apparently arguing in the kitchen that Matthew came to join him in Alfred's room. Matthew did not say anything at first, only hugged him.

Kiku returned the embrace. He had never thought he would see Matthew again and here he was. For a terrible reason, but back nonetheless.

"Angus around?" Matthew asked, pulling back.

Kiku shook his head. "He should be back soon. He... He does not know how to act around Arthur right now. Neither do I."

"I'm sorry about that," Matthew sighed. "Not that this is a good thing to happen at any time... I hope this isn't ruining your time here, eh."

How could Matthew think that? Kiku shook his head, unable to speak. It took him a while before he realized it was because Matthew did not know what else to say about the situation. Perhaps he felt just as awkward about Kiku being here for his as Kiku did, as Angus did.

Matthew's other brother, Francis, seemed very foreign now that Kiku was a bit more used to English speakers. His English was accented differently and he expressed himself nothing like how Matthew did. He was nice enough, Kiku decided. Maybe nicer if Kiku could understand what he was doing. From what he heard about his relationship with Arthur meant he should not take anything Arthur said about him too seriously, right?

"Stop teasing him!" Arthur scolded Francis again. Matthew started coughing into his plate and Angus busied himself with his food.

There was that, though. Kiku decided Francis could stay as long as he liked. Francis had won the kitchen argument and dinner was delicious. Different, but delicious. Anything that kept Arthur from cooking was good.

Thankfully now that Matthew and Francis were here, Arthur did not seem quite as distant. Probably because Francis was helping him try to contact someone about this situation. Kiku probably could have figured out more (Matthew or Arthur would have told him more), but...

It was none of his business, really. It was enough that he overheard more than he should. With Matthew coming to school with them again the three of them tried to leave the house a little earlier. And more quietly, so as not to interrupt the adults' conversation in the living room.

"Alfred should be here. He must be heartbroken."

"Just keep sending him letters, _mon ami_... Wouldn't it be wonderful if there were a way to speak with someone in another sector?"

"What?"

"I mean physically speak with them. Through something."

"You're off your rocker."

Kiku's stomach turned. Maybe there could have been a better way to break it to Alfred than through a letter. Maybe he should have written to Yao and had him break it to Alfred gently. Yao had his moments, after all. He could have done that.

Or not. Was it his place?

Kiku was so sorry, but there was nothing he could do. Nothing at all. He had only been here four months.

After school, Kiku went to the wall.

To his great relief, it was not holed up. Apparently it had nothing to do with the Cuban Sector, but even so it was a miracle that the officials had not found it in their investigation and repaired it. Kiku set a napkin in the hole and placed a couple of cookies on it before sitting down with his back against the wall. Ramon might still be playing it safe. Or maybe he had been coming here anyway. Either way, there was nothing to do but wait.

Just like his situation with Arthur, Angus, and Matthew. Wait. Wait for them to make it through this situation. Hopefully this Antonio would be okay.

"Kiku? Angus?"

Kiku got to his feet and turned around to look through the hole. Ramon looked concerned, but flashed him a smile. "I am the only one here today," he told the Cuban.

"I started coming here again yesterday," Ramon said. "I didn't know when it would be a good idea, but I was afraid they would have repaired the wall."

"Me too."

"No one has ever been caught illegally in the Cuban Sector," Ramon mentioned offhandedly. "I wonder if that's because no one tries to illegally come here."

"The man arrested was Angus and Matthew's uncle," Kiku said.

Ramon's smile vanished. "Oh no. Angus okay?"

Kiku hesitated to answer that question. "Matthew came back with his brother from the French Sector. Francis is trying to help Arthur learn what happened."

"That's rough, mate," Ramon said sincerely. For a few moments he did not say anything. Then: "Want to talk about something else?"

It was such a relief to hear Ramon suggest that Kiku could not say anything. He simply nodded and offered the cookies to Ramon. Ramon took one and Kiku took the other and they nibbled away at them in midst of conversation.

Ramon began to talk about his time as an exchange student in the Italian Sector. "The family had two brothers, a few years older than I was. The younger one made the dinner. He cooked the best food."

"And the elder?" Kiku asked.

Ramon exhaled. "Couldn't do anything better than his brother. It was really sad. I felt sorry for him. He was obviously the... um, unfavourite?"

Kiku used to think that about Yong Soo. When they were younger it seemed Yao wanted less to do with him than Kiku, or Xiu, or Maddox. Now Kiku was sure that Yong Soo had always just been annoying and so it seemed like Yao had liked him less. Once Maddox had started getting in as much trouble Yao started treating him similarly. Kiku and Xiu were the only ones who tried to be good.

He considered that.

After listening to more of Ramon's exploits in the Italian Sector, Kiku headed back home. Angus handed him his mail when he entered.

_Thanks for telling me. I'll be okay. I mean, it has to be a mistake. Uncle Antonio can be stupid at times, but he's not an idiot. I'm sure it'll all be cleared up soon._

_Have you tried banana ice cream with red hot candies crushed in it? Ramon wouldn't see that coming._

Finally, Kiku laughed.

* * *

**People are people, no matter where they are.**


	17. Dead Night

**Dead Night**

_Kiku,_

_Did you know your brother has nightmares?_

He first noticed a few weeks back.

Alfred nearly fell down the stairs. That was a perfectly normal reaction to have to a sudden shout. He had never heard that sound before. It certainly was not Yong Soo and it was not a girl's voice – so not Xiu either.

"What are you doing up, aru?"

Alfred turned around to look at Yao, standing at the top of the stairs. He could have motioned to the glass of water in his hand, but he really was not thinking about Yao's question. "What was that?" Alfred asked, pushing his glasses further up the bridge of his nose.

"Go back to bed," Yao told him before going into Maddox's room.

Alfred, not one to do as he was told right off the bat, tiptoed after him and stuck his head into the room. Which was when he saw something he had never seen before: Maddox clinging to Yao, sobbing into his chest.

Just like that, Alfred decided to go back to bed.

By morning he could almost convince himself he probably had not seen what he thought he had seen. Especially as Maddox acted the same as ever – deadpan and physically distant from other people (except for Xiu, sometimes, or when he was trying to bother someone). What Alfred had seen just did not seem like it could have happened. Plus, there was no reason for it, right?

He was effectively able to forget about it for a bit before, one night, Alfred suddenly started wondering about it again. Slipping out of Kiku's room, Alfred went over to Maddox's room.

What was contained in this room was a mystery. Alfred had only seen inside it a few times and it always looked more innocent than it possibly could be. He was sure Maddox was hiding a lot more in it than it appeared. Not that it was as clean as Yao was always asking it be. Not even Xiu seemed immune to Yao asking for more tidying up.

Alfred looked in.

Then he went to get Yao.

By the time Maddox was clinging to Yao again, face buried into his older brother's nightshirt, Alfred was absolutely certain Maddox was still asleep. He had not woken up. Shuffling about near the door, he finally asked what he wanted to ask. "What's wrong with him?"

"Nothing is wrong with him, aru," Yao chided, rocking Maddox in his arms.

Alfred frowned, looking down at his feet.

"Don't let him know you have seen him like this," Yao went on to say, voice gentle.

That thought had never crossed Alfred's mind, but he nodded. What did someone say about a thing like this anyway? "Yeah, of course. He... he going to be okay?"

"Nightmares pass."

_If that's the case, why isn't this the first time?_ Alfred was not sure what else to say, he was just confused now. And feeling really awkward. He excused himself to go back to bed, saying goodnight to Yao and leaving the room. Just another thing that made him really wish he was home right now.

"It's okay, Maddox. I'm here, aru. I'm here."

It was suddenly really depressing how Maddox treated his brother. Which suddenly reminded him of Arthur.

Okay, maybe he was a bit glad he was not at home right now.

"We are watching. This. All of us. Watching."

"We are watching what?" Vash asked, voice tinged in exasperation.

Maddox showed them the movie he had in hand. He had to have planned to show this to them after school, because there was no other reason to have brought it. Alfred recognized it as some really crappy martial arts movie that he had never bothered to watch. Yong Soo elbowed him.

"He loves these things."

"I've noticed," Alfred replied, his own Mandarin a bit sceptical. "But why? They really suck."

"That is the point."

"Not in a million years," Vash vetoed it. Which of course meant, a little while later, that they were sitting in front of the television watching a really stupid movie.

"This is hilarious!" Alfred exclaimed, only thirty minutes in. "And I thought these things were bad with the English dubs!"

"They are," Yong Soo agreed. "Change it to English, _da ze_! That's better."

Maddox got up and did so, causing another shuffle of the couch. Vash protested indignantly when Maddox nearly sat on him and then protested even more when he was squished between Maddox and Alfred. Alfred tried to give him more room, but Yong Soo already had no concept of personal space and Alfred was almost as uncomfortable as Vash.

Almost. It took effort to be as uncomfortable as Vash.

Alfred enjoyed it more than he thought he would. He probably would have enjoyed it more if he did not have to explain to Vash (whose English was rather limited) in Mandarin what was so funny about the English translation of Mandarin. Maddox took to sniping at the movie in English and was no help at all.

The irony of the situation failed to escape him.

It was a good distraction though, probably for Vash as well. Neither of them had mentioned what Uncle Spain was going through since they both realized they knew him. Though it was difficult to find a time to ask more about his uncle Gilbert, because it just did not seem like a thing to bring up around Yong Soo or Maddox. Just their little secret.

After they finished watching it and Maddox went to put the disc away, Alfred noticed something underneath the bottom shelf of the bookcase near the television.

"Is that a..." _Damn. Don't know the word for baseball bat._

"It's Kiku's," Yong Soo shrugged.

Maddox rolled it out with a foot and kicked it over. It did not roll in the right direction very well, but Alfred could reach it if he leaned forward on the couch. "He likes baseball?" he asked in English. _Sorry Vash_.

"Oh yeah."

Alfred had to remember to write that down, ask Kiku more about it. "Let's play," he stated. Then he repeated it in Mandarin, for Vash's sake.

"What?" Maddox asked.

"I watched your movie," Alfred pointed out. "Now we get to do what I want."

"Okay."

"Sounds good, _da ze_!"

Maddox herded Vash along and Alfred suddenly wondered whether he should have let Vash escape the premises first before bringing it up. It was not like they could really play baseball with four people (or three), but the more people the more fun the game they played with a baseball and baseball bat would be.

"He only drags you around because he likes you," Alfred whispered to Vash.

Instead of denying it, Vash said something Alfred had not expected. "Everyone chooses who they want to be for a reason."

_Chooses? Like it's always a choice?_ Alfred considered it. He did not believe it at all, but it sure as hell gave an insight into Vash's mind. "Maddox doesn't bother you as much as you say he does, does he?"

Vash took the baseball and walked away. His throw was not bad at all. Not as violent as Yong Soo's and actually thrown in the right direction, unlike Maddox (who absolutely refused to be the batter).

It started raining, but they continued nevertheless. At least, they did until Xiu rushed out back.

"Alfred! You left the futon out!"

"Shit."

And it was one of the first things Kiku told him not to do too.

* * *

**People are people, no matter where they are.**


End file.
